Private sector has failed Hong Kong on plastic bottle recycling, green group study finds
Government accounts for 96 per cent of PET bottle recycling, while most private businesses won’t accept them, data shows
The private sector plays only a negligible role in the recycling of plastic bottles in Hong Kong while government-backed bodies account for up to 96 per cent, a study by a local green group has found.
The Green Earth looked at where the city’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles came from in 2015, and found that only 7.6 per cent of them were recycled, based on government figures.
PET bottles are used to hold liquids such as water and soft drinks. The year 2015 was the latest for which official figures were available.
Hong Kong government bodies recycled between 6 per cent and 7.3 per cent of all the plastic bottles in the city, while businesses accounted for only 0.3 to 1.6 per cent, according to the study.
The Recycling Fund and the Community Recycling Network were the biggest reusers, processing 2.7 and 1.5 million tonnes respectively.
The Green Earth compiled the data based on figures from the government’s Environmental Protection Department (EPD), the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.