Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. Have you noticed the streets have been emptier recently? Well, the Environmental Protection Department has been quietly removing recycling bins from roadsides since June last year. It said it decided to remove the bins due to the poorer quality of material discarded and that it expected demand for kerbside recycling to decline as the Green@Community network gains ground. While it is true that the roadside recycling bins are often misused , the reasons cited for removing them seemed like mere excuses given that the decision came soon after – if not in direct response to – the Ombudsman’s report on the management and effectiveness of the bins. The report , published in April last year, did not call for a total scrapping of the recycling bins, however, only recommending clearer labels on what can be recycled and more transparency with the recycling data. The EPD’s reaction seems akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. To be fair, though, it is hard not to be somewhat sympathetic when some Hongkongers see any container on the street as a convenient waste receptacle. Already I have seen non-glass recyclables being put into the roadside glass recycling bins. But replacing more than 1,000 bins with 43 recycling stores and 130 mobile spots is hardly the way to go. The Green@Community network has much smaller coverage number-wise. Not all mobile spots are open at times that are convenient to most working adults. The management of stores being contracted to various organisations also calls into question the long-term sustainability and knowledge retention of the network. With the government intent on going ahead with waste charging in the second half of the year, the loss of roadside recycling bins will only create a further burden on families that do not live close to the recycling stores in practising waste separation. If we want to encourage more recycling, it must be cheaper and more convenient than the default of throwing things away. So what message is the government sending when recycling bins are gone from the streets but the rubbish bins are still there? Wendell Chan, senior policy research and advocacy officer, Friends of the Earth (HK) Stop seeing animals as just food on a plate Given the possible animal origin of the virus that causes Covid-19, it should be common sense to stop consuming wildlife, but there are always those ready to take a risk. Worldwide watertight laws need to be enacted to prevent cross-contamination; a law full of loopholes is useless protection (“Why the real disease is contempt for wildlife”, January 26 ). Too many people just see our fellow creatures as food on a plate, disregarding their intelligence, wrongfully believing only humans are capable of thought and feelings. Live chickens are inhumanely slaughtered in wet markets, yet these birds have their own ways of communicating. Scientists know decapod crustaceans are sentient, and the octopus and cuttlefish are probably smarter than some humans, yet we remain oblivious to their pain. Factory farming is not only cruel but increases the risk of another pandemic, yet it is allowed to continue. Our education system has failed us; we are not taught to care, but we now have knowledge at our finger tips. We all carry a phone and can Google anything. This gives us the ability to learn and understand faster than we’ve ever done before. Modern technology has enabled us to easily communicate with each other and hopefully, as a result, it’s not too late to save the world from human ignorance. Joan Miyaoka, Sha Tin
