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Typhoon Mangkhut
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Hong Kong garbage truck drivers facing up to six-hour delays amid Typhoon Mangkhut clean-up

Long wait times caused by damage to facilities at refuse stations and extra time taken to compact wood waste

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Garbage from waste collection points across the city is sent to the stations, where garbage is compacted, packed into containers and then sent to landfills. Photo: Edward Wong
Elizabeth Cheung

Garbage truck drivers have been waiting for up to six hours to unload rubbish at waste transfer stations this week, as Hong Kong’s massive clean-up rolled on five days after monster storm Typhoon Mangkhut tore into the city.

Waste Disposal Industry Association chairman Tam Chi-wah said the waiting time for some drivers on Monday – the day after Mangkhut struck – was between four and six hours. The most intense storm to hit the city since records began in 1946 destroyed windows and pavements, left close to 15,000 collapsed or damaged trees in its wake and flung heaps of debris across many parts of the city.

Sea-facing and low-lying areas were the worst affected, but an office tower in Hung Hom also had at least 100 window panels blown out, and its interior units were seriously damaged.

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On a radio programme on Friday, Tam said the longest waiting time on Thursday according to official information was two hours. However, he added, he had heard about some drivers waiting for as long as three hours.

“The [official information] only counted time waiting inside those stations, without including time waiting outside on the road,” he said.

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