“I declare the implementation of the scheme will be put on hold from August 1 after the chief executive endorsed the secretary for environment and ecology’s suggestion to do so,” he told lawmakers at a panel meeting.

Cheuk said authorities would gazette a notice that abolished the August 1 launch date.

“We have to be very practical when implementing a policy, it would be irresponsible if we pushed ahead with the scheme when the public was all unprepared and confused, what we do now is timely and appropriate,” he said.

Asked whether officials needed to apologise or step down for failing to implement the policy, Cheuk said there was a valid reason behind each postponement or suspension, and the environment minister had been very committed throughout the process.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said the government remained committed to the goal of waste reduction, adding that “our efforts over the past few months haven’t been in vain”.

Private residential buildings could also receive the free bags if their property management companies signed a charter, promising to provide recycling facilities and handling the recyclables properly.

He said authorities would double the number of food waste recycling facilities and add 100 mobile collection spots across the city within a year.

Tse also promised to lengthen the operating hours of Green@Community recycling facilities and increase the number of collection spots from 200 to 800.

The government would also look into offering shopping vouchers to residents who actively recycled at those facilities.

Officials would also conduct further studies on how to optimise the scheme, including addressing concerns about potential legal responsibilities and extra work placed on sanitation workers, Tse added.

But he declined to provide a clear timetable for implementation of the scheme because authorities not only had to strengthen the recycling network but also look at the public’s readiness for the measure.

First proposed in 2004, the multimillion-dollar scheme was passed in the legislature in 2021 and initially expected to take effect at the end of last year.

The government pushed back the plan to April, citing a shortage of waste collectors over the Christmas and Lunar New Year holidays, and then postponed it to August due to the low readiness of the public. Instead, a two-month trial run was conducted in April at 14 locations.

Authorities spent HK$177 million on promoting the scheme over the past three financial years and earmarked another HK$581 million for this year, with expected revenue of HK$1.79 billion one year after implementation.

But Tse stressed that the bags produced would not go to waste as they would be used for educational purposes.

At Monday’s panel meeting, lawmakers almost unanimously voiced support for the suspension, praising the government for listening to people’s opinions.

Some urged the government to review whether it was a viable way to achieve waste reduction.

Social welfare lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen called the move a “practical decision”, but questioned why it took so long for the government to realise the challenges the public faced.

“This is not the first day the government has heard about those opinions,” he said. “If you had done the preparation work two years ago, we would have implemented the scheme smoothly now – we might have wasted two years.”

He urged the government to provide a midterm review in six months and set clear indicators to decide whether the scheme should go ahead.

Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun expressed disappointment that the scheme had been shelved indefinitely.

“The shelving should have come with a timetable, even if you spend 10 years educating the people, their habits will not change overnight,” he said. “We should not give up on the scheme.”

Nevertheless, those likely to have been hit hardest by the policy, including low-income groups, care home operators and the catering sector, welcomed the suspension, as they had not yet found a solution to mounting costs.

They urged the government to enhance the recycling network, sort out uncertainties over execution, and offer subsidies to offset extra waste-handling costs.

Six environmental groups on Sunday night made a last-ditch appeal to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu not to delay the scheme.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth on Monday said the decision to once again delay the scheme was very disappointing.

“Claims of the financial burden of waste charging on the community ignores the reality that taxpayers are currently subsidising big polluters for the cost of waste disposal and managing landfills,” chief executive Jeffrey Hung Oi-shing said.

“Delaying waste charging will only continue to saddle society with the environmental and economic costs and the opportunity cost of not developing a circular economy.”