Hong Kong drinks companies to launch new recycling scheme in bid to restore public trust in city’s green credentials
- Drink Without Waste initiative backed by groups responsible for half of the water and soft drinks sold in the city
- Under new plan, consumers would be paid 5 cents for every bottle they returned for recycling
Hong Kong’s major drinks companies have agreed to take part in a packaging recycling programme, ahead of the government’s public consultation on a “producer pays” scheme for plastic bottles.
“We believe that trust has been lost, consumers put something in the bin and they don’t believe it will get sorted anyway,” Paul Zimmerman, the initiative’s chairman, said.
“And the government is very happy that Drink Without Waste has already got agreement from the industry on the producer responsibility scheme for them.”
The coalition of green groups and manufacturers, including Watsons Water, Swire Beverages, Swire Coca-Cola, Dairy Farm, Vitasoy, and the Hong Kong Beverage Association trade group – which together are responsible for half the bottled water and soft drink items sold in the city – has been working over the past two years to come up with a customised producer responsibility scheme.