Waste policy works 'only if people figure a way out'

Public clarity over the municipal solid waste charge depends on a willingness to understand the policy, said the director of the Environmental Protection Department Samuel Chui Ho-kwong.

Chui said the department has held over 50 seminars on the new charging policy for over 6,000 people in property management companies and cleaning companies and will organize 29 briefings for district councils to explain the policy to the public at large before March.

However, he said implementation would, despite the efforts, still be like "crossing the river by feeling the stones."

Hongkongers will have to buy designated bags to throw away their domestic waste starting April 1 and those who fail to use them will receive a fixed penalty ticket of HK$1,500.

The government will issue warnings and admonitions to offenders in the first six months.

Chui said the period may be extended but urged people to obey the law and use designated bags.

He also said if residents were willing to learn about the policy they would figure their way out of the confusion.

"If you want to make it clear, you will; if you don't then nothing will help," Chui said.

However, confusion and worries still exist in many sectors, with homes for the elderly fearing the huge cost that the new policy can bring.

The life honorary chair of the Elderly Services Association, Grace Li Fai, said trying to cut down on the amount of garbage produced at homes was hard.

"Caregivers need to change diapers six to eight times a day for one elderly and wrap them in plastic bags before discarding them to prevent smells," Li said.

She estimated that a large-scale home would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on designated bags.

Li said wrapping up unrecyclable garbage in elderly homes, including syringes, and large waste such as old mattresses and wheelchairs will also cost tens of thousands of dollars every month.

She also said the HK$10 monthly subsidy for low-income elderly is "far from enough" to cover the fees.

"They use six diapers a day so how is it possible to cover that with the subsidy?" she said.

The Social Welfare Department had a meeting with representatives of homes for the elderly yesterday and said it would study ways to reduce the sector's costs, but Li said until an official response was received, the worries would not go away.

Management companies and cleaners also expressed their confusion over the policy.

The chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Property Services Agents, Poon Kin-leung, called for clearer guidelines as wrapping up garbage that is not properly bagged up by households will only increase the cost for those who obey the law.

A committee member of the Cleaning Workers Union, Leung Tsz-yan, said the government has yet to provide guidelines for cleaners.