Hong Kong halt on production of bags for waste-charging scheme sparks calls for introduction to be delayed ‘for at least a year’
- News sparks calls from city’s biggest party for yet another delay to the scheme’s large-scale introduction
- But other politicians warn that further hold-ups will cause Hong Kong to lag even further behind many other cities in meeting environmental targets
The news sparked a fresh call on Friday from the city’s largest political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), to postpone the controversial programme for “at least a year” to allow for enough recycling facilities to be set up around the city.
But a lawmaker from the New People’s Party said more delays to the scheme’s implementation – already under discussion for more than a decade – would cause Hong Kong to lag even further behind many other major cities in meeting carbon reduction targets.
The implementation date for municipal solid waste charging was pushed back from April to August.
A source familiar with the programme said several suppliers of the government-approved rubbish bags with designated labels had been told by environmental authorities to suspend production in the meantime.