According to statistics, 2%, 153 tonnes, of
the 9,000 tonnes of
municipal solid waste (MSW)
is wasted beverage glass bottles. To reduce the burden to landfill, such regulations and levy to glass bottles should be
carried out immediately.
From instances of our neighboring
countries, such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, all of them have introduced such charging scheme to regulate wasted
glass bottles since the 1990s. In
most of the cases, glass bottle manufacturers have
to paid a certain amount of recycling fee,
which will then contribute to wasted glass recycling industry
To tackle this, the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department has launched a consultation at the beginning of this year. Further, the Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs has also discussed on the matter and gathered different views of the respective feasibility, possibility and potential positive and negative impact to the recycling industry as well as the catering, food and beverage industry. In this preliminary stage, supports are found from most of the stakeholders groups. However, since the consultation is still in progress (to May 6, 2013), the details of implementation plan are still subject of great controversy.
Different stakeholders have
different positions and views, which there are still a lot of rooms of discussion, such as the type of glass
bottles to be charged, the number
of recycling contractors
to be hired, the actual price
of levy, who should share the
cost, and whether a landfill ban should be applied, etc.
We need to determine a proper plan and the corresponding
supporting facilities and equipments to
support and assist in the implementation. On one hand, to maintain the
balance of various
stakeholders, on the other hand, to ensure an the recyclable glass bottles are treated or reused properly and sustainably
Though the public awareness of waste reduction is graduallyincreasing, education still ranks amongst highest in priority.
The consultation period will
end in May 6,
2013, for specific details, please visit the EPD website: http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/bottles_consult/en/promotion/
Please click here to download the response form and send back to: glass_prs@epd.gov.hk
Please click here to download the response form and send back to: glass_prs@epd.gov.hk
