Letters | Chinese history lessons for how to run the waste-charging scheme
- Readers discuss why the Hong Kong government has to get the scheme right, retail’s contribution to waste, a property vacancy tax, and a family’s suffering
The first episode dates to the time Duke Xiao of the state of Qin employed reformer Shang Yang, who earned commoners’ trust by keeping a promise to reward someone who could carry a pole from the south gate of a market to the north gate. Thus Shang Yang was able to successfully enact reforms, laying a solid foundation for the eventual unification of China by Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor.
The second episode concerns reformer Wang Anshi of the Song dynasty, whose measures did not go down so well. Thus he lamented: “People have become accustomed to complacence, and not just for a day.”
Residents of Hong Kong are long accustomed to laissez-faire; can the habits of the community be easily changed in a short time? Is the garbage levy a useful measure?
Perhaps the state of recycling in Hong Kong in the decades since 1997 needs to be assessed. In places with successful waste disposal programmes, recycling is subsidised.