Hong Kong catering sector not ready for twice-delayed waste-charging scheme: top government adviser

Executive Council member warns industry’s personnel shortage is making it difficult to ensure waste is properly recycled, days after pay-as-you-throw trial run launches

Lawmaker calls for focus on developing recycling sector by opening up more collection points, says trial scheme should be expanded

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Hong Kong’s waste-charging scheme is expected to launch citywide on August 1. Photo: Eugene Lee

Published: 1:57pm, 6 Apr 2024Updated: 5:47pm, 6 Apr 2024

Hong Kong’s catering industry is unprepared for a waste-charging scheme that has already been delayed until August, a top government adviser has said, while a lawmaker has called for greater support for residents and more convenient public recycling spots.

Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, a member of the Executive Council, the government’s top decision-making body, said on Saturday that the sector was grappling with a personnel shortage that made it difficult to ensure waste was properly recycled.

“We cannot see that all the 20,000-odd licensed food establishments in the industry are able to cope with the scheme on August 1,” said Cheung, who also serves as a lawmaker for the catering industry.

“Not only do we not have enough manpower now, but we also have to ask the staff to learn how to process waste and sort different food waste all over again. Waste in the catering industry is very different from household waste.”

Cheung told a radio programme he would need to further observe the pay-as-you-throw scheme’s impact on the industry, given more foreign workers were expected to arrive in Hong Kong by August.

The citywide launch of the controversial waste-charging scheme has already been pushed back twice, from last December to April and then to August 1.

Under the policy, the public must dispose of their garbage using government-approved bags available in nine sizes, ranging in price from 30 HK cents (4 US cents) to HK$11.