Green figures win praise
HONG KONG people are racing ahead of residents of Britain and Canada in the environment-friendly league, according to government figures.
More than 90 per cent of locally-filled glass drinks bottles were recovered for re-use, said the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Tony Eason.
In a written reply to United Democrat Dr Huang Chen-ya, he said the figure represented nearly 50 per cent of the glass bottles in the local market.
He said the recovery rate compared favourably with 20 per cent in Britain and 35 per cent in Canada.
Mr Eason said the more than 80 per cent recovery rate of aluminium cans was also high, compared with 40 per cent in both Britain and Canada.
He said the average cost of disposal for glass and metals was about $70 per tonne. In 1992 about 146,000 tonnes of such waste were created.
Mr Eason said the recovery rate of waste paper was about 55 per cent last year.
