Letters | Help beat Hong Kong’s plastic waste problem by supporting drinks makers in their green efforts
- The government must make the process of setting up paid water dispensers easier
- Hongkongers should bring their own bottles and use water fountains more
Lunar New Year celebrations are in full swing, with plenty of carnivals, parties, fireworks and gift giving. But once the festivities are over and used bottles and containers are binned, they may become out of sight, but they are never truly gone.
To enable these schemes to operate, beverage producers must go through lengthy bureaucratic processes to obtain all the necessary licenses. For instance, selling drinking water without a PET bottle is considered to be a small-scale drinking water production plant – which means installing a simple water fountain requires jumping through several regulatory hoops.
The Environment Bureau needs support from relevant bureaus and departments to ensure the efficient implementation of these schemes, as the timeline of producer responsibility legislation addressing plastic beverage containers is still unclear.
Drinking water dispensers should be widely installed to achieve waste avoidance at source. We must bring our own reusable bottles and refill them wherever we can. If we do buy a bottled drink, we must return the bottle to a reverse vending machine, recycling bin or to a recyclable materials collector so that those acting in environmentally responsible ways are rewarded.
By working together with the government and manufacturers, we can make a difference to Hong Kong’s plastic waste problem. It’s the right thing to do for ourselves, our planet and our children. Act now, please!
Edwin Lau Che-feng, executive director, The Green Earth