Opinion | Tackling food waste will be Hong Kong’s next big challenge

Impressive strides have been made in improving facilities and raising incentives for recycling, but these do not cover household food waste

This is a problem, because food makes up a third of Hong Kong’s total landfill waste, and is a significant source of greenhouse gases

Reading Time:3 minutes

People buy food in a supermarket in Quarry Bay on November 2. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 8:15am, 16 Nov 2022

Since my return to Hong Kong from Slovakia six months ago, I have been delighted to see the Environmental Protection Department’s (EPD) provision of new recycling spots through the Green@Community initiative.

I still remember rigorously scrubbing and sorting my plastic, paper and metal waste when I lived here many years ago. I would then take a few big bags of recyclables to the nearby recycling bins in my village. But there was always an element of uncertainty, given the rumours about recyclables going straight to landfills. Were my efforts going to waste (pardon the pun)?

I would not be surprised if this were particularly the case since China’s waste import ban in 2018. Until then, Hong Kong exported over 90 per cent of its recyclables to the mainland.

However, the EPD has been at the heart of a push to improve the local recycling system. They now operate several recycling stations and shops, including one conveniently located near my office.

The recycling stores even offer rewards, although receiving a towel after lugging 35kg of paper there (which, to be fair, doesn’t have to be in one go) seems a bit mean. But I can see how large rewards would defeat the purpose of these facilities.

Still, there’s one thing missing: household food waste recycling.

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