Waste-charging trial run sees low participation rates

Just 20 to 50 percent of residents were willing to participate in the trial run of the waste charging scheme that started on April 1, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said.

Over 80 percent of residents involved in the pilot were willing to pick up free designated garbage bags during the past week, but only 20 to 50 percent actually used them, Tse added.

He also said the usage of the bags varied, with private residential buildings having the highest proportion. Only 20 to 30 percent of residents in a three-nil building used the designated bags.

"Some residents in the three-nil building did not even know about the pilot, although posters about the scheme were everywhere in the building. They are just too busy with work to notice," Tse said.

"Some are also less interested or even resistant to changing their living habits."

Tse also said the government has received many views from participants during the past week, complaining about the small size and poor design of the bags, as well as insufficient food waste recycling facilities.

"Some have reflected the recycling facilities are too far away from where they live as it takes them 10 minutes to walk to the nearest food waste recycling machine," he said.

Tse said recycling bins in over 2,700 estates, along with the government's recycling facilities Green@Community and the food waste recycling machines that will be installed in public housing estates before August, can cover the recycling needs of 80 to 90 percent of citizens.

However, he admitted it is impossible to double the number of food waste recycling machines to make them reachable within a five-minute walk for residents by August.

"From the aspect of numbers, the food waste recycling facilities are just about sufficient but whether citizens find it convenient to use is a problem we need to solve," Tse said.

He also said the economy is not recovering as expected, which has affected the social atmosphere.

But he denied that the government had misjudged the situation for the citywide implementation on August 1 and said authorities will evaluate the impact of the scheme on all sectors and participants' feelings and emotions through the pilot for the next step.

In response to media inquiries, the Environmental Protection Department said 14 premises, care homes, restaurants and government buildings have completely switched to designated garbage bags while the usage in shopping malls reached 70 percent during the past week.

Director of Net Zero Agriculture and agricultural consultant Stephen Wan said yesterday that the government should enhance education among citizens, encouraging them to voluntarily reduce carbon emissions to reduce public resentment towards the scheme.

He also suggested the government support non-governmental organizations to set up food banks and recycling facilities in districts, as well as promote zero-carbon agriculture to help process food waste.

ayra.wang@singtaonewscorp.com