Most residents in a Chai Wan housing estate who participated in the trial of the waste-charging scheme said they are not ready for the scheme to be implemented citywide on August 1, while a district councillor said most people need at least one to two years to get used to it.
Speaking on radio yesterday, Eastern District Council member Elaine Chik Kit-ling said around 90 percent of residents in Lin Tsui Estate received the designated trash bags but only 20 percent were using them.
"Most residents said they are not used to using designated bags and would like to use up normal plastic trash bags first," she said.
Chik also said some would like to store the bags for use after the citywide implementation, as they will need to pay for the bags by then.
She also said the estate's recycling facilities were sufficient, with food waste recycling machines, three-color recycling bins, and Green@Community recycling stations, but citizens have yet to comply with the rules. "There are many details about the waste charging scheme and it's not something that citizens can fully digest within a year or six months," Chik said, adding it will take at least one to two years for citizens to adapt.
Hong Kong Association of Property Services Agents chairman Poon Kin-leung, who is also in charge of the property management company for Lin Tsui Estate, said residents failed to use designated bags since the law has not been fully implemented.
Poon also said some complained about the small size of distributed 15-liter designated bags while others said the bags were insufficient due to their limited awareness of recycling.
"Some residents are not aware of source recycling," he said.
Poon said the trial had doubled the time for cleaning staff as they had to sort improperly packaged rubbish.
"The rest time for frontline cleaners was also reduced from 45 minutes to 15 minutes."
Poon said the management company would subsidize cleaners and so far are satisfied with the situation. However, he said the cost would increase and more manpower would be needed in the future and hoped the government would assist.
Poon also urged the government to raise public awareness of recycling so that the workload of cleaners can be eased.
Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan yesterday said the government will closely examine the trial results, as the scheme will affect over seven million people.
Tse acknowledged that many problems were spotted and people were complaining that it was too complicated. "Some cleaners and management staff have also reported heavy workload under the pilot."
Tse said the government would consider ways so that the scheme would "cause less disturbance" to people's lives.
In response to media inquiries, the Environmental Protection Department said the trial was scheduled for two months starting April 1 and will submit a report on the result to the Legislative Council on May 27.
Lawmaker Edward Lau Kwok-fan hoped the government could provide clear directions on issues such as monthly costs, designated bag supply and food waste recycling.
