By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-09 13:36:41 | Updated at 2025-01-09 23:05:59
9 hours ago
Environmental authorities will halt a centralised plastic recycling scheme in Hong Kong after five years to consolidate services under a government-funded programme, saying the move will cut costs by nearly a quarter.
The Environmental Protection Department said on Thursday that it would end the “Centralised Waste Plastics Collection” pilot scheme on January 19 as recycling habits in the city had matured over the years.
“We started the pilot scheme in 2020 when residents still had low confidence in recycling schemes and the Green@Community network was still not established,” said Steve Wong Chi-wah, assistant director of waste management.
“After four years, residents have got used to the recycling process and Green@Community has also expanded its services to all 18 districts.”
Under the scheme, three contractors were hired to recycle items collected in nine districts into raw plastic materials or products.
Of the nine districts, the contractors are also in charge of regularly collecting plastic waste from private and public residences, schools, public offices and government-run recycling centres in Sha Tin, Eastern and Kwun Tong districts.
