Hong Kong to pay for recyclers to collect plastic waste in trial scheme covering homes, offices and schools in 3 districts
Recyclers will be required to sort, shred, clean and melt used plastics to produce regenerated materials for local or overseas markets, city’s No 2 official says
A trial scheme to boost Hong Kong’s dismal waste plastic recycling rate will be rolled out next year in three districts, the city’s No 2 official announced on Sunday.
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said the government would pay for recyclers to collect waste plastic from private and public residences, schools, public offices and government-run recycling centres.
The contractors, hired by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), would be required to sort, shred, clean and melt the used plastics to produce regenerated materials or products for local or overseas markets. Tenders will be called later this year. Cheung did not say which three of the city’s 18 districts would be involved.
In the past three years, more than 2,000 tonnes of plastic have been sent to Hong Kong’s landfills on a daily basis, accounting for about 20 per cent of all the municipal solid waste produced by the city’s 7.3 million population.