Hong Kong recyclers 'need more manpower, not machines' from government's HK$1b Recycling Fund, industry insiders say
Government fund that will subsidise equipment would be better spent on improving collecting and sorting among workers, insiders say
A provision in the government's new HK$1 billion Recycling Fund that allows recyclers to receive subsidies for new equipment should be reworked to help street collectors find and sort materials instead, industry insiders say.
Falling oil prices and a slump in the regional economy have seen the prices fetched for waste plastic fall to virtually nothing, and street recyclers have stopped collecting it in the past few months.
"We have the capacity to process 40 tonnes per day, but now, we only receive just two or three tonnes," said Jacky Lau Yiu-shing, director of the Recycled Materials and Reproduction Business General Association, whose organisation buys materials from recyclers for export.
Lau said because there was no money to be made, more plastic was destined for landfills.
Allowing recyclers to set targets on how much plastic to collect and offering funds to increase manpower would be more helpful, he said, since sorting recyclables is the most costly part of the whole operation.
