New waste management plan for HK unveiled

Comprehensive 10-year management plan hopes to tackle worsening waste crisis.

The Hong Kong: Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources 2013-2022 analyses the challenges and opportunities for waste management in Hong Kong, and maps out strategies, targets, policies and action plans.

Secretary for the Environment KS Wong said the plan will reduce the per capita municipal solid waste disposal rate by 40% to 0.8kg by 2022. The rate was 1.27kg per day in 2011, and the target for 2017 is 1kg.

“This is an ambitious target but it is also practical. The key to success lies in motivation.”

The blueprint proposes policies and actions in three areas.

Policy and legislation, including municipal solid waste charges and producer responsibility schemes, aim to drive behavioral change to reduce waste at source.

Territory-wide campaigns, such as the Food Wise Hong Kong Campaign, will discourage food waste and encourage recycling.

Waste-related infrastructure, including organic waste treatment facilities, waste-to-energy integrated waste management facilities and landfill extensions, will be enhanced.

The government expects that by 2022, waste recycling, modern incineration and landfill disposal in Hong Kong will account for 55%, 23% and 22% of waste management respectively, more closely matching the allocation structure widely adopted in advanced economies.