Planned consumer rebate for recycling plastic bottles in Hong Kong far too low, poll finds
- An overwhelming majority of residents will take back empty containers if they get HK$1 for each one, according to survey
- But the government is proposing just a 10 cent rebate under a scheme green groups say is misguided
More than 80 per cent of residents are willing to return plastic bottles for recycling if they receive HK$1 (12 US cents) for each container but only about 20 per cent will make the effort for the 10 cents the Hong Kong government intends to offer, a survey has found.
The findings underscore the challenge the government faces in reducing the city’s volume of trash, which included 1.55 billion plastic bottles being dumped in 2019 alone – roughly 200 for each person.
The poll of 1,008 residents, carried out by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute for five environmental groups last month, weighed attitudes towards two approaches to encouraging recycling.
One involves giving a rebate for each bottle, which the government endorses, and the other requires residents to pay a small extra fee when buying a container, with the surcharge returned when they bring them back for recycling, a scheme green groups prefer.
The survey found that 83 per cent of people would take bottles back if the amount offered was HK$1, while 71 per cent would do so under the deposit-return model.