Rubbish effort: Hong Kong environment bureau slammed for slow work on food waste disposal
Audit Commission calls for more timely action as landfills face increased pressure
Government auditors have criticised environment officials for not taking "timely action" in tackling food-waste problems and missing targets on waste disposal at the city's overflowing landfills.
In one of two reports on waste published yesterday, the Audit Commission noted that officials had set a policy target as early as 2005 to cut municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal at landfills from 60 per cent in 2004 to 25 per cent by 2014. But as of 2013, 63 per cent of the waste was still headed for dumps.
The city had also failed to boost MSW recovery rate to 50 per cent by 2014. Latest figures show the figure is at 37 per cent - but even these statistics are "distorted" by the inclusion of imported recyclables processed for re-export.
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MSW, or general rubbish from the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors - more than a quarter of which is food waste - is the biggest component in the local rubbish mix, followed by building and demolition waste.
The findings echo criticism from green groups that believe the government's latest targets of reducing MSW per capita by 40 per cent by 2022 are increasingly out of reach.
The commission criticised the Environment Bureau over its "piecemeal" policies on food waste and for taking too long to implement measures such as the construction of an organic waste treatment facility and the launch of a charging scheme for MSW - now eight years behind schedule.
The bureau was slammed for underestimating the cost of the first phase of the Siu Ho Wan waste treatment facility in North Lantau by more than 200 per cent when reporting it to the legislature's environmental affairs panel in 2010, ultimately leading to a delay in tendering and thus commissioning for another four years.
"During the period, a substantial quantity of food waste would be disposed of at landfills instead of being treated by the facility," the report said. The plant is now due to open in 2017.
In another report, the watchdog identified holes in food-waste reduction policies and a lack of commitment from government departments, laid bare in a wide range of settings from public housing estates to prisons.
Only four out of 12 government departments that were invited to sign the bureau's Food Wise Charter in 2013 had joined as of June this year. Food-waste recycling trial schemes initiated at public rental estates attracted participation from just 6 per cent of about 52,000 households.
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Food waste disposed at the prison facilities ranged between 0.02kg and 1.61kg per person, meaning some institutions discarded more food waste per day than the average Hongkonger disposed of in the form of MSW. And despite pushing green lunch practices at schools, 100 tonnes of food waste and 250,000 disposable lunch boxes still ended up in the landfills every day.
The watchdog urged the bureau to strengthen efforts to encourage higher participation in food-waste recycling and reduction schemes and to speed up implementation of a waste charge.
"More timely actions should have been taken to address the food waste problem," it said. Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing said his bureau welcomed the report and would follow its recommendations.
