Sustainable Solutions has fitted out 28 upmarket housing complexes in Hong Kong and Macau with its unique recycling bins at the request of the estate management. The buildings include those managed by Sung Hung Kai, Swire Properties and Discovery Bay Management.

'We are finding that people love having a recycling bin conveniently outside their homes,' said Sustainable Solutions director Philip Stride. 'The demand has come from tenants and most of them believe that discarding household waste into one bin is just not on.'

The company was set up in 1999 and initially worked with a subsidiary of Sun Hung Kai Properties to ensure residents on every floor of the Royal Peninsula in Hung Hom had access to recycling bins.

At the start, only 4per cent of household waste was collected and recycled. Mr Stride said this rose to 40per cent by the end of the year.

'The figure would have been even greater if we could recycle glass as well, but this can't be done in Hong Kong at present,' Mr Stride said.

Mr Stride believed recycling in serviced apartments would catch on more as tenants and landlords realised such equipment did not block corridors or look unseemly.

And there is another incentive. Mr Stride said one estate management company made HK$100,000 in a year by reselling materials put in the bins.

Judging from a poll conducted among tenants by one management company on Discovery Bay, Mr Stride believes there is much untapped demand among medium- to short-term expat residents who want convenient recycling facilities. 'The people on Discovery Bay only had two things on their wish list, and one of them was recycling bins on every floor of their buildings.'