appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Emily Hung

Lynn Zhang

In Hong Kong’s Kwai Tsing neighbourhood, a community recycling station has been quietly making an impact since opening in 2019.
Green@Kwai Tsing, operated by the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, serves as a collection point for various items that are sent to recyclers. Twelve mobile collection spots are also set up in the neighbourhood every week.
Back in 2019, the station collected 20 tonnes of recyclables each month, but that has since surged to about 60 tonnes.
“We have noticed that in recent years, the public’s awareness of recycling has clearly increased, and many more residents are actively participating in waste reduction and recycling,” said Chris Wong Kar-hing, head of professional services at the NGO.
She said the Covid-19 pandemic was a key turning point, as the amount of disposable waste piled up and triggered public awareness, in addition to many publicity campaigns.
Hospital worker WY Fok, 50, visits the station every month.
“I prefer coming here instead of using three-colour recycling bins at my building because they take all kinds of recyclables, like glass bottles. Why throw them away if they can be recycled?” Fok said.

Retiree Yunhua Huang, 72, said she found the gifts offered for redemption, such as cooking oil and noodles, quite practical. Huang also learned about waste separation after visiting the facility about twice a month.
“It’s wasteful if we just throw it away; we should all be eco-friendly,” she said.
One year after the government shelved a controversial municipal solid waste-charging scheme indefinitely, officials are touting a victory of sorts – a continuous decline in trash volume and an increase in recycling.
Environmentalists, however, called the “progress” a drop in the ocean, slamming the government for its insufficient efforts over the past year to prepare the city for the waste-charging scheme, which focused on promoting recycling instead of source reduction.
They urged authorities to implement waste-charging in phases, starting with government premises, not only to demonstrate their commitment to the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, but also to reduce the strain on public finances in the long run.
What is the ‘good news’?
The waste-charging scheme has largely faded from public discussion after it was shelved indefinitely in May 2024, two months before it was scheduled to take effect on August 1.
First proposed in 2004 and passed by the legislature in 2021, the scheme would require residents to dispose of trash in prepaid, designated bags costing between 30 HK cents (4 US cents) and HK$11, with offenders facing penalties or even imprisonment.
The government paused the scheme after two delays due to widespread public concerns over its impact on the cost of living and uncertainty in its implementation. It pledged to improve recycling facilities, strengthen public awareness campaigns and review the scheme thoroughly.
Six months later, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said on his blog that waste volume had “peaked” and was on a steady decline.
He has since repeatedly cited the “good news” in public and legislative addresses.
“The various waste reduction and recycling initiatives implemented have achieved encouraging results to date. The current-term government has reversed the rising trend of waste disposal amount,” he said in April.
Official data showed that the average daily quantity of municipal solid waste sent to landfills dropped for three consecutive years, from 11,358 tonnes in 2021 to 10,510 tonnes in 2024, by 7.5 per cent, despite overall growth in gross domestic product.
The per capita disposal rate also declined by 8.5 per cent to 1.4kg per day over the same period.


Meanwhile, the waste recovery rate rose from a three-decade low of 28 per cent in 2020 to 33 per cent in 2023.
While officials touted this success, a promised report to the legislature on the future of the scheme in mid-2025 was never delivered, with the bureau citing the need to gather more public views before proceeding.
Tse told a radio programme in mid-August that preliminary findings suggested that most people felt it was not yet the right time for waste charging.
“Our current efforts are highly effective. We will monitor public opinion to decide whether to continue with our current approach or if waste charging is something that still needs to be introduced at this moment.”
While it barely mentions the waste-charging scheme, the government has rapidly expanded its network of recycling stations, named Green@Community, from 300 in May 2024 to 800 in the first half of this year, with operating hours extended.
Last year, 12.7 million people visited them and 41,800 tonnes of recyclables were collected, an 80 and 55 per cent increase, respectively, from 2023.


Under a “Green$” incentive scheme, residents can earn 10 to 80 points for each kilogram of recyclables, which can be redeemed for daily necessities such as rice and canola oil.
Last year, 3.5 billion points were awarded, and 2.08 billion were redeemed, both representing a 300 per cent increase from 2023.

The government also launched a charter to encourage private residential premises to collect a wide range of recyclables, ensure proper delivery to recyclers and publicly report the data. More than 900 premises have joined the charter, putting up over 3,000 recycling facilities.
On public education, it dispatched community outreach teams to promote waste reduction and clean recycling, spending HK$100 million in the previous financial year.
It also distributed free designated bags to public housing tenants for six months last year. The survey findings suggested that most found the bags effective in helping them reduce waste and recycle, but no data was provided in response to Post queries.
Is Hong Kong really doing well?
Edwin Lau Che-feng, founder and executive director of environmental group The Green Earth, warned against complacency about the decline in waste volume and the uptick in the recycling rate, because the results were “not even close” to the targets authorities set more than a decade ago.
“The government is presenting an inaccurate picture to the public and lawmakers that we are doing very well [in waste management], but ignores the elephant in the room,” he said.
In 2013, the government introduced a blueprint for sustainable resource use, targeting a per capita waste disposal rate of 1kg per day by 2017 and 0.8kg by 2022. The plan also aimed to raise the recycling rate to 55 per cent by 2022.
In 2023, the rate was 1.44kg and the recycling rate was 33 per cent.
In 2021, a new 2035 blueprint was released, setting a midterm target to reduce the per capita waste disposal rate by 40 to 45 per cent, without a specific timeline.
“The results suggest that what we have been doing is simply not sufficient,” Lau said.
“Waste charging is the most effective way to achieve our targets, as shown in many other countries and regions.”

Echoing Lau, Greenpeace campaigner Leanne Tam Wing-lam said it was premature to conclude that Hongkongers had become eco-friendly without more in-depth analysis, noting that the decline in waste volume and the uptick in recycling rate had a big gap.
She said the government’s focus on the waste management end point – the volume of trash disposed of, but not the amount generated at the source – created a fundamental flaw in its assessment.
“We look at the landfill and see a decline in waste volume, but we will never know why,” she said.
“On what grounds can the government conclude that the volume has peaked and is on a steady decline? You can always reach new heights without rigorous policy interventions.”
Tam said it was also important to look at the breakdown of trash at landfills to assess whether the public had become more eco-friendly.
The cost of a free lunch
Professor Poon Chi-sun, director of the Research Centre for Resources Engineering Towards Carbon Neutrality at Polytechnic University, said the recycling rate increase was primarily due to the government offering numerous free waste recycling channels to the public, which was neither a cost-effective nor sustainable model.
“The waste-charging scheme is not only important to Hong Kong’s sustainable development and waste management, but also to our public finances,” Poon said.
“Yes, we should do more recycling, but it should not solely depend on public money.”




Green@Community cost authorities HK$313 million to operate in the 2023-24 financial year. The amount rose to HK$475 million and HK$507 million in the subsequent years.
That marked a 60 per cent increase over two years despite a fiscal deficit of between HK$70 billion and HK$100 billion.
According to Poon’s calculation, the cost of handling one tonne of waste at Green@Community is HK$10,000, based on 2023 data.
Poon said waste charging should work in tandem with an expanded producer responsibility scheme to ease the government’s financial burden. Suppliers should share the responsibility of recovering waste, either on their own or by hiring a recycler.
The concept is currently applied to plastic bags, electrical and electronic equipment, and glass drink containers only. Plastic beverage bottles and drink cartons will be included in 2027.
“We cannot solely rely on public money to do recycling. It’s best if we could separate the recyclables on our own for recyclers, supported by the producer responsibility scheme, to collect and wash for processing,” Poon said.
Poon cautioned that although Hong Kong would have its first waste-to-energy incinerator by the end of the year, the cost of it handling trash was six times that of a landfill, underscoring the need to introduce the waste charging scheme to help drastically reduce garbage in the long run.
Environmental scientist Jonathan Wong Woon-chung suggested cross-border collaboration with the Greater Bay Area to further increase the cost-effectiveness of recycling and reduce reliance on public finances in the long run.
He said it should come on top of implementing waste charging to bring up the recycling rate, hopefully to around 50 per cent, creating a critical mass for the supply chain.
“The government is paying contractors a lot to treat recyclables after collecting them, such as processing waste plastics into pellets to meet export standards, but that is not economically viable,” said the professor emeritus of biology at Baptist University.
“We should work with the Greater Bay Area to lower the cost of the whole supply chain … otherwise, we will continue to bear a high cost.”




He suggested that Hong Kong could instead handle simple, low-cost pre-processing of materials before sending them to mainland Chinese recyclers, or introduce mainland recyclers to collect materials directly from the city.
The central government has imposed bans on foreign waste to combat pollution, but certain recyclables are still permitted if they meet specific rules.
“A mechanism needs to be put in place to ensure Hong Kong’s recyclables follow all the rules and do not pollute the environment on the mainland,” he said.
On waste charging, he urged the government to exercise greater political will.
“There will for sure be opposition, but what matters the most is a government that is willing to assume responsibility and is committed to tackling the obstacles,” he said.
“It is also important for the public to be more supportive and tolerant because hiccups are unavoidable when we are crossing the river by feeling the stones, just like everywhere else.”
Greater will, more support
Lau of The Green Earth said it was “misdirected” for the government to squander public money on Green@Community, because it could only incentivise recycling in the short term.
He argued that investing in changing people’s mindsets and behaviour through public education would be more cost-effective, having a lasting impact without the need for gifts and rules.
“With stronger environmental awareness, the public would find it easier to accept the waste-charging scheme because they wouldn’t have much to dispose of any more.”
Given the current economic climate, Lau suggested a “soft start” for waste charging, beginning with government premises and voluntary business participation to demonstrate the administration’s commitment and build public trust.


Greenpeace’s Tam slammed the government for failing to seize the opportunity to address loopholes in the waste-collection system, which had long existed before the waste-charging scheme.
The ambiguity of the execution of waste charging was a key controversy, with frontline cleaners worried about the dilemma of losing their jobs and breaching the law when handling improperly packed trash, a common issue in rural areas and buildings without property management.
“From the experience of Taiwan, we saw that they streamlined the system before implementing waste charging, such as the ‘keep trash off the ground’ measure and negotiations with frontline cleaners – anything but stagnant,” Tam said.

She said the government could have installed recycling facilities in refuse collection stations, improved cleaners’ benefits to compensate for the extra workload, tackled illegal waste disposal black spots and put in place a complaint system for cleaners to report such cases.
“Those long-standing issues surfaced because of waste charging, and they still exist even when waste charging has been shelved,” she said.
Minister Tse said the government would explore a legal exemption for sanitation workers, but two major cleaner unions told the Post that authorities never reached out.
They spoke with the Environmental Services Contractors Alliance, but the discussion focused on the pressure of the scheme on businesses, its convenor, Catherine Yan Sui-han, said.
“It’s better not to talk about [waste charging] at the moment; it would only annoy the businesses that are struggling with expensive rents and slow business. The top priority should be boosting the economy,” she said.
Is that the end?
University of Hong Kong emeritus Professor John Burns, who specialises in politics and public administration, said the government was unlikely to implement the waste-charging scheme, pointing to its “apparent reluctance” to make the policy a high priority.
“The government makes national security a high priority; it talks about national security every day; it doesn’t talk about recycling,” he said. “It’s more or less the way they left it in 2024.”
Burns said a policy that affected all residents should not be left to one bureau to implement but to a high-level task force bringing together all bureau secretaries, which did not happen.
There was also strong opposition from the Legislative Council, as the supporters of the scheme in 2021, mostly from the opposition camp, no longer held seats.
But he said the “strong public opposition” cited by Tse would require independent surveys to indicate.
“Authorities need to first buy into sustainable development themselves. And second, to educate the public about the necessity of sustainability and its benefits. This requires the government to lead, not to follow public opinion,” he said.


Cathay calls on Hong Kong to map out long-term sustainable fuel plan beyond 2030

Hong Kong aims to raise zero-carbon energy share of fuel mix to 30% by 2030

Hong Kong must prepare for the impact of heat-related work stoppages

Hong Kong urged to overhaul ecotourism planning and expand bookings for hotspots

Hong Kong environmental issues

A year after axing waste-charging scheme, is Hong Kong better off?

Illustration: Brian Wang

Chris Wong says the public’s awareness of recycling has clearly increased. Photo: May Tse

Residents can earn points for each kilogram of recyclables under an incentive scheme.  Photo: May Tse

Workers collect discarded fluorescent tubes at the Green@Kwai Tsing recycling station, Photo: May Tse

A resident brings recyclables to the Green@Kwai Tsing station. Photo: May Tse

Food recycling surges at Hong Kong estates even without waste-charging scheme

A resident of Lung Hang Estate in Sha Tin places a food waste in a machine for recycling. Photo: Jelly Tse

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan has expressed optimism that total waste disposal figures will  continue to improve. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Hong Kong won’t use stock of special rubbish bags for any future waste charging

A banner promoting the waste-charging scheme in Chai Wan. The government shelved the controversial waste-charging scheme in May after wide public opposition. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Officials cite trash volume declines and more recycling activity as victories, but environmentalists say the numbers do not paint the full picture


Officials cite trash volume declines and more recycling activity as victories, but environmentalists say the numbers do not paint the full picture.


A year after axing waste-charging scheme, is Hong Kong better off?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Officials cite trash volume declines and more recycling activity as victories, but environmentalists say the numbers do not paint the full picture

Officials cite trash volume declines and more recycling activity as victories, but environmentalists say the numbers do not paint the full picture