A worker at the Green Hung Hom Recycling Store clears waste piled up in front of a Green@Community recycling centre on February 7. The absence of recycling bins in many parts of Hong Kong is hampering efforts to prepare the public for the upcoming waste charging scheme. Photo: Jelly Tse
Opinion
Alice Wu
Alice Wu
Waste levy dithering will leave government with a big mess to clean up
Hong Kong officials need to take the political will shown with Article 23 legislation and direct it towards the delayed waste charging scheme
Without more efforts to provide recycling facilities and educate the public, the scheme is a disaster in the making
The Hong Kong government is certainly capable of expediting processes and procedures, such as with Article 23 legislation, when there is enough political will. That’s good news because officials now need to find the same courage and determination to deal with the impending waste charging scheme and the problems it is causing even before it is implemented.
The levy has been pushed back twice. It is now scheduled to come into effect on August 1 and expected to bring in HK$1.79 billion (US$228.9 million) for the government in the first year.
While the city’s home-grown national security laws have been said to only target a “small group of people”, the waste levy will target every single Hong Kong resident. We all produce waste every day, after all.
Since the levy was postponed for the second time, at the eleventh hour, what has the government done to address the concerns that led to that delay? Not much. Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan has appeared on a few current-events shows since Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu halted the scheme in January.
Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan (right) meets the media after a briefing on the municipal solid waste charging scheme, at government headquarters in Tamar on January 26. Photo: Edmond So
But the fact is that the scheme needs more promotion. It’s about taking concrete steps to make recycling more accessible to residents. The point of the scheme is to change people’s mindsets and habits when it comes to how we treat waste.
There is no time to lose. People are already starting to adopt new practices to prepare for the levy, but this is not good news for the government.
A few weeks ago, I found that management at one of the largest shopping centres in Hong Kong had removed all the rubbish bins, except for in the toilets. The recycling bins had gone, too.
It’s easy to imagine why. With the government pledging to reduce the number of bins on the streets, to push residents to take their rubbish home, shopping centres are doing likewise as they don’t want people adding to the piles of rubbish from businesses.
Polly Chan Shuk-yee, the principal of Yaumati Catholic Primary School (Hoi Wang Road) and vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association, has called for government support to offset the cost of rubbish bags for schools.
She also voiced concern over the possibility that some students or staff might bring their rubbish to school for disposal. So the government isn’t the only one aware of people disposing of their household rubbish elsewhere.
And Hongkongers seem to have taken a new interest in conducting experiments at home, including seeing what they can successfully flush down their toilets.
I’ve seen notices in residential buildings warning about improper rubbish disposal. Most are unsurprising, like don’t put rubbish in stairwells or recycling bins. The most ludicrous one was over a fish being flushed down the toilet, causing damage to a sewage pipe.
With food waste making up the bulk of the waste created and sent to landfills, there are simply not enough efforts devoted to treating it at source. There are currently 449 public food waste bins across the city but none in Wan Chai or Yau Tsim Mong districts. There are also none available at private housing estates in Central and Western, Southern, Sham Shui Po and Tai Po districts.
06:47
SCMP Explains: How does Hong Kong handle its waste?
SCMP Explains: How does Hong Kong handle its waste?
We already know not every district has recycling centres. If people have to take public transport with their recyclables to access these centres, the government is not doing enough. Unless we make such facilities widely available, the waste levy will lose its original intent and value.
In a poll conducted by the Society for Community Organisation, about a quarter of low-income households surveyed said they might flush their food waste down the toilet. Many live in subdivided flats and old buildings without property maintenance companies, owners’ corporations or residents’ organisations, and about a third of the buildings have no bins in common areas.
The government must anticipate how the levy will affect those who need to find somewhere else for their rubbish. It’s not just about the added financial burden but how to tackle the obstacles these residents face.
Without more efforts to provide recycling facilities and educate the public, the waste charging scheme is a disaster in the making. The government must wake up to the fact that it could face a far bigger clean-up than it ever envisioned.
Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA
