Furniture from toppled trees: Hong Kong ‘yard waste’ recycling centre turns discards into new products
- Massive pile of trees uprooted during 2018’s Typhoon Mangkhut led to first facility for such waste
- Environmental Protection Department aims to increase output of products, raise awareness and demand
Hong Kong’s first large-scale recycling centre for yard waste, which turns discarded tree trunks and branches into wood products, is up and running and aims to double its capacity.
The Y·Park recycling centre turns selected waste wood materials into logs, boards, beams, wood chips and sawdust that can be used for furniture, sculpture, fencing and farming and will help the city meet its anti-climate change goals.
The Tuen Mun centre at present handles about 30 tonnes of yard waste a day, but aims to double that in time, said a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Department.
Yard waste is all types of refuse generated from vegetation, including cut grass, leaves, tree trunks, branches and twigs. Hong Kong generates about 180 tonnes (198.4 tons) a day from public works, regular maintenance of greenery and natural disasters that cause trees to topple.
Keith Lai Chun-kit, a senior environmental protection officer at the department, said only 40 per cent of the waste material that arrived at the centre every day could be recycled.
The rest, a mix of stones, trash, twigs and leaves, cannot be processed.
The recycled products are made available to government departments, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and anyone else who can use them.
Y-Park also gives away sawdust and woodchips for agricultural purposes.