Green groups call for less use of paper, amid Hong Kong collection strike
Consumers advised to store waste and to buy products without packaging
The call came as exporters stopped collecting waste paper on Friday, after the mainland tightened the issuing of approval notices to plants that import overseas waste. The tightening follows a policy tweak from Beijing that would ban 24 types of imported waste by the end of the year.
The city’s recyclers collect around 2,600 tonnes of waste paper daily, and advocacy group The Green Earth warned more than 18,000 tonnes of waste paper could be sent to landfill if it cannot be recycled.
“Hongkongers are all responsible for producing the waste, and we should help solve the problem,” Edwin Lau Che-feng, the group’s executive director, said.
Lau said offices and schools could reduce printing or print on both sides of each piece of paper. Waste paper should also be stored on companies’ own premises if it can not be collected for recycling, he said.
Patsy Cheng Man-wah from sustainability concern group SEE Network recommended people buy products without packaging.