An e- waste recycler at Ping Che, Ta Kwu Ling works without safety gear. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Hong Kong recycling plant set to deal with electronic waste

Published: 9:18am, 6 Mar 2016

Plans to build the city’s first electronic recycling facility in Tuen Mun are being drawn up in a bid to find sustainable solutions to Hong Kong’s mounting municipal waste problem, where 70,000 tonnes of computers and electrical appliances are thrown out every year.

The facility will be designed to process up to 30,000 tonnes of equipment including computers, televisions, air-conditioners and refrigerators. These items can wreak havoc on the environment owing to their toxic contents when they are dumped in landfills.

Computer motherboards await their fates in Taiwan as recyclers work to extract precious gold and other metals from yesterday’s must-have items.Photo: Bloomberg

“This project marks the beginning of a new era in specialised waste management in Hong Kong,” said UK architect Alexander Lush, who is designing the multimillion-dollar project funded by the government.

“Recycling is not just a trend; it is a fundamental responsibility of society to better manage resources and our environmental footprint. We are pleased to be able to contribute towards waste reduction, reuse and recycling and a more sustainable future for our community,” said Lush, who is a long time Hong Kong expat.

The Legislative Council’s Finance Committee approved the government’s request for HK$548.6 million to construct the system, offering a 12-year contract to German recycling company Alba Group last year.

Remember me? A discarded, outdated Cathode Ray Tube TV pokes out of a pile of sets to be recycled in China’s Hunan province. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Located in the Tuen Mun EcoPark, the facility will operate under the government’s “polluters pay” scheme, where importers and distributors will have to foot the bill of old appliances’ disposal.

Waste management is becoming an increasingly fraught issue in the SAR, as space for landfills becomes increasingly sparse.

An Audit Commission report from late last year looking into the government’s efforts the manage municiple waste noted that targets to reduce per-capita-per-day disposal rate set out in 2005 were not being met.

The report reviewed plans sets out by the government in the 2005 Policy Framework to minimise waste by 1 per cent per annum – stating that they had not been met in 2014.

Hong Kong generated 5.49 million tonnes of municipal solid waste in 2013, of which 3.48 million tonnes (63 per cent) were disposed of at landfills and the remaining 2.01 million tonnes (37 per cent) were recovered for recycling – the equivalent of 650 double-decker buses per day – according to the report.

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