Most of the trees felled in Hong Kong by Typhoon Mangkhut to go straight to landfill
- Collection point on site of old airport to close
Most of the trees felled when Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong will go straight to landfill, starting this Sunday.
Officials announced the plan on Thursday, as the collection site at Kai Tak for tree waste was about to close.
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) also announced a new attempt to reuse tree waste by making its newly bought industrial-grade wood shredder available for public use. It will be placed near T.PARK, the city’s first sludge treatment facility, next to the department’s Tuen Mun landfill site.
The soon-to-close collection area, on the site of the old Kai Tak airport, opened on September 21, five days after monster typhoon Mangkhut ripped through the city, causing floods and travel chaos, as well as felling at least 55,000 trees.
It would stop receiving tree waste at 6pm on November 10, the department’s spokesman said. That was because the amount of incoming waste was dwindling and the sites were earmarked for construction.
“Since early November, the EPD has started to close the collection area in phases to facilitate the handling of the remaining tree waste there,” the spokesman said, adding that government departments and contractors were already taking collected tree waste directly to landfills.