Hong Kong recycler may stop taking cartons after landlord says it can only give Mil Mill several months grace

Hong Kong’s only drinks carton recycler has warned it may stop taking plastic-lined receptacles starting this Saturday if lease negotiations fall apart, after its government-backed landlord broke a week-long silence amid criticisms about smothering the recycling business.

The warning, made by Mil Mill’s executive director Harold Yip Man-ki, came after Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation on Tuesday said it could only give the recycler several more months’ grace period after the extension ends on December 31. Yip added the time was “far from sufficient” for it to prepare for the pulp plant’s departure.

Albert Wong Hak-keung, the science park’s chief executive, said: “The entire development plan of the Innopark cannot be delayed by just one or two matters, while other things are already in process.”

The site in question refers to a 20,000 sq ft plot in Yuen Long Innopark, previously known as the Yuen Long Industrial Estate, which is administered by the science park.

The science park notified operators of Mil Mill earlier this month that they were required to move out by December 31. The closure of the pulp mill would mean that the city could no longer recycle drinks cartons because no other factories had the ability to process the waste.

Hong Kong currently produces some 67 tonnes of such waste daily, with Mil Mill handling about three tonnes each day.