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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
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
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?
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
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
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