Letters | This time, Hong Kong must resist the pressure to delay waste charging

Readers discuss how Hong Kong can avoid another delay by making a few tweaks, why city need not chase after foreign pop stars, and the perks enjoyed by former leader Carrie Lam

Hong Kong environmental issues

Letters

Published: 11:30am, 24 May 2024

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I turned 30 this week and, like many of my peers, I often reminisce about the milder weather of our childhood days. We are experiencing more extreme weather, with warmer summer nights and more violent storms, a trend likely to continue during our lifetime.

Remarkably, over the past few years, I have seen Hong Kong people’s attitudes and behaviours radically change – especially in their considerable and unprecedented efforts to recycle and shop responsibly. However, in recent weeks, I have been disappointed by the increasing pressure on the government to delay the waste-charging scheme.

We all know waste charging is the right thing to do but we are retreating because policy execution might not be perfect on the first day of the launch.

We must go ahead as planned in August. But for the change to be palatable, I believe what we need is an adaptation period and for the government to make some concessions in the short term.

The government could distribute smaller bags to households free of charge for the first three months, and provide large free bags for food and beverage outlets until the end of the year. Thereafter, the authorities should lower the price of the smaller bags so their cost is similar to that of bin bags currently available on the market.

This will buy us time to catch up on improving food waste collection infrastructure. About one-third of our municipal waste is food waste. For households to reduce waste in general, they must be given a way to dispose of food waste in specific bins. There just aren’t enough food waste collection points at the moment.

Waste charging must begin as planned. Simply kicking the can down the road would be wrong and unjust to our children. Changing our habits for the better on a normal day is hard, but Hong Kong people have always shown their resilience in doing hard things.

If we call ourselves Asia’s World City, then we must show ourselves worthy of the title – as a city that takes its green policies seriously with steadfastness and commitment.

Henry Yau, member of Hong Kong’s Environmental Campaign Committee and the Country and Marine Parks Board

Singapore has foreign pop stars, Hong Kong has its culture

Your correspondent made a good point in the letter, “Why stars like Taylor Swift would pick Singapore over Hong Kong” (May 5). He rightly pointed out the hypocrisy of two former Hong Kong government officials’ comment about using public funds accountably, given our own white elephant projects. And it is likely true that Singapore ended up earning much more than the amount paid to the pop stars and bands to bring them there.

Yet, I wonder how vibrant Singapore’s culture is and whether it played a major role in attracting visitors. After all, it chose an easy way to promote itself – attract foreign stars and in turn their armies of fans. Why should we envy Singapore or go out of our way to court foreign celebrities when we have our own artistes who can promote Hong Kong and our diverse local culture?

We can attract tourists to experience local culture in a host of ways. The Tourism Board can consider inviting local celebrities like Cantopop boy band Mirror or singer-actor Jeffrey Ngai to promote local traditions such as the ritual of “villain-hitting” and the Cheung Chau Bun Festival. Can these customs be found in other places like Japan, South Korea, Singapore or Europe?

Books and literary works related to Hong Kong can also be promoted. As a book lover, I have enjoyed many books centred on local culture, such as Jason Ng’s No City for Slow Men. Novels like Hong Kong Noir and shows set in Hong Kong, such as the Expats miniseries, should be promoted. We can invite production companies to set their films in Hong Kong.

Travel agencies can organise tours that promote the city beyond shopping and dining. Visitors can go on nighttime tours to see Hong Kong’s neon signage, or visit its beautiful countryside on hiking tours.

The best way to promote a city is to leverage its unique strengths. After all, the goal of attracting tourists is not only to boost business in the city but also to promote our culture to the world. It would be great if foreign pop stars like Swift were to come to Hong Kong, but rather than make it our goal to get them here, we should focus more on showcasing our uniqueness.

Lucas Lee, Sha Tin

Treat city’s leaders as one would a mayor

I refer to the article, “Office politics: is HK$9 million too much for ex-Hong Kong leader’s plush space?” (May 17).

There is no logic in comparing Carrie Lam Yuet-ngor’s role as chief executive to that of an overseas prime minister’s. It would be closer to the mark to compare her and her predecessors to mayors, and one would find it impossible to find a mayor of any major international city being afforded the indulgence of the multimillion-dollar perks she presently enjoys.

Mark Peaker, The Peak