Recycling

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Recycling domestic waste
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Background
Why domestic wastes should be recycled?

• In 2004, about 6.41 million tones of wastes were
  disposed of in the three landfills in HK. It is
  projected that the existing landfills would only
  last 6 to 10 years if waste continues to grow at
  the current trend. 
• Therefore, waste reduction and recycling is a
  main focus for tackling the waste problem.

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West New Territories (WENT) Landfill
South East New Territories (SENT) Landfill
North East New Territories (NENT) Landfill
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Domestic waste can be simply classified into
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Most waste paper can be collected for recycling,
for example

• Brochures publicity materials
• Magazines Books
• Envelopes (remove plastic window)
• White / coloured writing paper
• Newspapers
• Cartons
• Cardboards

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Most metals can be collected for recycling, for
example

• Aluminium cans (e.g. soft drink cans, beer cans)
• Metal containers (e.g. clean and empty food cans,
  biscuits tins, moon cake boxes)
• Mixed metals (e.g. metallic utensil like pots
  pans, metallic vacuum flasks)

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Most plastics can be collected for recycling, for
example

• Plastic container (e.g. bath cream bottles,
  beverage bottles, detergent bottles, shampoo
  bottles)
• Clean plastic bags (e.g. supermarket shopping
  bags, packaging)
• Mixed plastics (e.g. CDs, cassettes, toys)

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Others materials

• There are also many disused household items can
  be donated to people in need or collected for
  recycling, for example,
• old clothing
• electrical appliances
• computers

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Importance of recycling

• Conserve natural resources and energy
• Reduce pollutions
• Reduce the needs for landfill
• Transform waste materials into useable resources
• Create more job opportunities in recycling
  industry
• Reduce costs in waste treatment

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Disadvantages of recycling

• The costs in collecting and separating waste
  materials are very high
• Recycling may cause more pollution
• e.g. in the recycling of paper, for each ton of
  recycled newsprint that's produced, an extra
  5,000 gallons of waste water are discharged

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INTERVIEW

• We have interviewed 30 people with different
  ages, jobs and sexes about their habits of
  separating domestic waste and their opinion
  towards the program on source separation of
  domestic waste

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Interviewees opinion towards the program

• Those who support the program
• Can arouse public concern
• Same kind of waste can be recycled efficiently
• Can protect the environment as less resources are
  consumed
• Those who think that it is not effective
• Not popular, the number of recycle bins are not
  enough and their positions are not obvious
• Not economical, need a lot of labor and money for
  transportation and treatment
• More promotion and education are needed

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Difficulties in promoting waste recycling in Hong
Kong

• Cost in treatment of recycled materials are high
• Not enough place to store recycled materials
• Market demands are small
• Public awareness in recycling is low
• Recycling industry is not common in Hong Kong
• Government does not give too much support on
  recycling industries

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What can the government do to support the program
on recycling?

• consider the implementation of a deposit-refund
  charging scheme which requires the producer to
  pay the deposit for their waste production. They
  have the legal responsibility to collect their
  waste after purchase. The deposit will go into a
  fund for assisting the recycling industries. It
  would provide incentives for producers to reduce
  waste and make their products more simply
  packaged.

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What can the government do to support the program
on recycling?

• help the recycling industries to minimize their
  operating costs. First, there is available land
  in existing industrial estates such as Tai Po or
  Junk Bay, This land could be allocated to the
  recycling industries with provision of
  water-treatment facilities. Using a
  deposit-refund system to subsidize the recycling
  industries on rent and operating costs could be
  integrated with the polluter-pays principle.

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What can the government do to support the program
on recycling?

• amend the Building Ordinance to require
  developers to incorporate recycling facilities
  into new buildings, such as providing one or two
  more rubbish transfer channels for recycling
  materials which can help residents or cleaners to
  easily access the recycling facilities.
• Reconstructing the existing rubbish-collecting
  stations to provide for the sorting of usable
  materials would also help to develop the
  industry.

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What can the government do to support the program
on recycling?

• Also, more promotions of the program on source
  separation of domestic waste should be done in
  order to let more people to know about it.
• Allocate more funds in educating the new
  generation about the importance of protecting the
  environment.

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What can we do to help?

• The public can increase their awareness and join
  in the recycling activities (e.g. participate
  actively in the program on source separation of
  domestic waste)
• Encourage your family members and friends to
  support recycling
• Knowing the importance of protecting the
  environment and be more considerate and produce
  less wastes
• Think carefully before purchasing goods,
  otherwise u are just producing more and more
  wastes.

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THE END!