Singapore has approached Mil Mill, the SAR's only drinks carton recycler, with an offer to find it a new site in the Lion City after Hong Kong Science Park refused to renew its lease in Yuen Long.

In revealing the approach, executive director Harold Yip Man-ki said the plant is now fed by nearly 600 recycling points, including Green@Community recycling spots, since its launch in October 2019.

The cartons are then processed and turned into pulp to make toilet paper and paper towels by the plant.

The current recycling volume is more than 200,000 beverage cartons, or two to three tonnes, a day, enabling Hong Kong to reduce its carbon footprint by over 5,000 tonnes a month.

Despite that, Mil Mill was notified by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp this month that its lease will not be renewed after year-end.

Yip is hoping for a three-year grace period as it takes time to find a new site to build a factory, and if operations have to stop at the end of December, the cartons may all have to go into landfills.

Yip also said he received a call from the Environment Protection Department yesterday, informing him that his company was eligible to apply for short-term tenancies at three government sites.

However, he said moving to one of those sites would be like starting all over again, involving significant investment.

A potential solution for him may lie in an old food waste plant in EcoPark, Tuen Mun.

Yip's colleague, operations director Nigel Lo Chi-chung, said if Mil Mill has to stop operating due to a need to relocate, recycling spots at Green@Community sites, schools or malls will have to stop accepting cartons.

Of the Singapore approach to help Mil Mill set up a plant there, Yip said: "I was born and grown up in Hong Kong, I have a greater sense of belonging to the city after doing recycling."

Hahn Chu Hon-keung, environment affairs director at Green Earth, said the SAR administration is showing a lack of thorough consideration on environmental policy.

He urged it to take the initiative to communicate with the corporation to provide solutions, otherwise the recycling industry may be "disconnected" before the completion of the pulp mill at EcoPark in 2025.

Drinks carton recycler faces final straw