Statistics show that department is failing to meet waste targets for Hong Kong

Contradicting his department’s own data, Mr Wong claims it is “moving in the right direction and not far from its goal” in waste management.

The department’s figures on its website show categorically that it has moved in the wrong direction five years in a row, away from its two major targets. The amount of waste per person disposed daily keeps increasing, while the waste recovery rate keeps decreasing. The 2015 performance is the worst in a decade. Overall performance is moving further away from his department’s goals for 2022.

Mr Wong claims that with the construction of organic waste treatment facilities and an incinerator in Shek Kwu Chau, “we will be seeing a visible drop in waste disposal”.

This is a misunderstanding of the difference between waste disposed and waste generated. The incinerator, organic waste treatment facilities and landfills are for waste disposal. They have no relationship to the total amount of waste generated by people whose habits are not influenced by where their waste ends up.

Mr Wong does not seem to understand that waste disposed is determined by two factors : waste generated and waste recovered. He has failed to grasp this equation – waste disposed is equal to waste generated less waste recovered.