Enhancing recycling efforts: Producer responsibility scheme for plastic bottles and cartons

Extending the Producer Responsibility Scheme to plastic beverage bottles and beverage cartons could reduce operation costs, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said.

Chairman of the Chamber of Food and Beverage Industry of Hong Kong, Simon Wong Ka-wo, expressed willingness to cooperate with the initiative, believing phased implementation is feasible. 

Speaking on a radio program on Tuesday, Tse outlined that the government will recommend producers set up their recycling points or hire operators for collection, saying this market-driven approach will provide flexibility and reduce costs.

"The government will only set a minimum recycling target and incentive amount, and we will let the manufacturers decide how to reach the goal flexibly by themselves. We believe a market-driven approach will lower the overall operational cost for the companies," he said.

He added that the government has specific requirements for operators and will register only those they trust. 

Tse noted that the authority has been requiring production companies to establish recycling points and offer a 10 HK cents incentive since 2021, which has successfully led to the collection of 150 million plastic bottles, indicating public support for the initiative.

Tse indicated that Hong Kong discards about 7 million plastic bottles daily, with initial targets to recycle 30 percent of plastic containers and 10 percent of cartons. 

He believes these targets are flexible enough for implementation, aiming for a 75 percent recycling rate for plastic containers and 50 percent for cartons within 6 to 8 years.

Wong, chairman of the Kampery Group, said during the same program that the industry hopes to align with government regulations. 

However, he noted that there are still many details to discuss, given that the city has few large producers and numerous small to medium-sized suppliers with limited import volumes.

He said that details like adding specific labels to cartons for the 10 HK cent incentive may not be easily achievable for importers, especially if manual labeling is required. 

Wong also said that currently, the large production companies in the trial program have 120 recycling machines for plastic bottles, but these only accept those produced by themselves. 

He hopes that these machines will be able to collect plastic bottles from various brands in the future.

(Cheng Wong)