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LettersPlastic recycling in Hong Kong could soon become much easier
- Consumers will no longer need to remove caps, labels or wash out bottles to have them recycled at new facility due to open at the end of the year
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I refer to the letter concerning smart packaging and recycling policy published in your newspaper on September 23 (“Packaging can make all the difference in plastic recycling”). The author is quite correct in that the need to wash out bottles (for shampoo or drinks) and remove labels is a barrier to people recycling. She also says would-be recyclers deserve better – the good news is that something better will be with us soon!
The New Life Plastics facility being built at EcoPark will be operational at the end of this year and it will have the ability to treat up to 100 tonnes of plastic bottles daily from Hong Kong, a city that produces something like 140 tonnes of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) alone every day.
The state-of-the-art plant will be able to process both Type 1 PET (in drink bottles) and Type 2 HDPE (high-density polythene, in shampoo bottles and similar) while minimising the impact on the environment.
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Of particular note is that the consumer will no longer need to remove caps, labels or wash out the bottles before they come to us, making it easier to recycle.
New Life Plastics will operate in a fully transparent fashion with traceable end use for the products. The PET produced will be food-grade ready, to allow the material to be reused for food containers.
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