A man was fined $10,000 at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (December 5) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
           
     The courts heard that in May this year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on Chung Wui Street in Tai Kok Tsui. The OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
           
     According to the OLA's records, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The man responsible for operating the premises was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
           
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".

     Following is a question by the Hon Vincent Cheng and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):

Question:

     Some parents have relayed that as they need to supervise their children's completion of a large quantity of homework every day, their relationship with the children is very tense and the children have lost interest in learning. It is learnt that the phenomenon of excessive homework has spread from primary and secondary schools to kindergartens. On reducing homework and promoting happy learning, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the respective average time spent daily on homework by primary, secondary and kindergarten students in each of the past three years; if so, set out the relevant figures in a table by type of kindergartens (i.e. half-day, whole-day and long whole-day) and by type of primary and secondary schools (i.e. government, aided/caput, Direct Subsidy Scheme and private), and whether the homework load has shown an upward trend; if it has not compiled such statistics, whether it will do so expeditiously; if it will, when it will do so; if not, of the reasons for that;

(2) whether it has compiled statistics on the average number of tutorial sessions per week in primary schools at present; if so, set out the relevant figures by type of schools in a table;

(3) whether it conducted any review in the past three years on the effectiveness of the tutorial sessions of primary schools in alleviating the homework burden of students; if so, of the findings; whether it will specify in the relevant guidelines a minimum number of tutorial sessions per week; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(4) as the Government's Task Force on Prevention of Youth Suicides has recommended in the report it submitted earlier that the quality of homework should be improved, and indicated that the Education Bureau will provide advice to and support for schools through school inspections and visits so as to improve the quality of homework for students and make doing homework more meaningful, of the details of this recommendation, whether the Government will consult the stakeholders on this recommendation, and the implementation timetable;

(5) whether it will conduct an in-depth study on reducing homework load for secondary, primary and kindergarten students as well as promoting happy learning, so as to formulate specific and long-term policy objectives; and

(6) given that for many years, the authorities of Finland have been advocating happy learning and happy teaching, and increased the rest time in schools for both students and teachers (a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes' class time), while in general a break of just 10 to 15 minutes for every class time of about two hours in Hong Kong, whether the Government will request schools to schedule more rest time when drawing up class timetables, in the hope that students will be more concentrated in class after taking breaks?

Reply:

President,

     The Education Bureau (EDB) has all along emphasised the importance of whole-person development, joyful learning and unleashing potential. Schools should cater for students' learning diversity, adopt diversified learning and teaching materials and strategies, design interesting learning activities, meaningful and effective assessment tasks and homework based on students' abilities, learning styles and interests etc., so as to nurture and strengthen students' learning motivation, enrich their learning experiences, facilitate their learning to learn and experience the meaning and enjoyment of learning. Schools should also plan the lesson time flexibly to create a pleasant and harmonious environment for student learning and their balanced physical and mental health development.

     Our reply to the questions raised by the Hon Vincent Cheng is as follows:
                
(1) and (5) The EDB's stance is clearly set out in the EDB Circular No. 18/2015 on "Guidelines on Homework and Tests in Schools – No Drilling, Effective Learning". The purposes of homework are to enable students to consolidate their learning in class, stimulate thinking, enhance their understanding of lesson topics and construct knowledge. The amount of homework given should definitely not be excessive, nor should it be meaningless with mechanical copying or drilling. Effective and meaningful homework can inspire students' interest in learning, and encourage active self-motivated exploration of daily life problems and application of knowledge. It can also extend learning and nurture creative thinking. Therefore, it is the quality rather than the quantity of homework that matters. Since both teachers' teaching strategies and students' learning abilities vary, setting any limit on the amount of homework for schools at the policy level not only fails to meet the needs of schools, but may also hinder students' learning and undermine teachers' work in catering for the needs of the less able students and high achievers. We should let teachers exercise their professionalism in assigning and marking homework in light of the curriculum requirements and student abilities.
 
     The EDB has commissioned an independent academic institution to conduct questionnaire surveys on primary three students' learning attitude and motivation, and some of the questions were about homework. The findings indicate that even with similar homework arrangements for students of the same grade in the same school, the time spent on homework and revision by students still vary significantly. This indicates that the amount of homework is neither the main nor the unique factor affecting the time spent by students on homework. The factors behind whether a student would feel that there is pressure from homework are even more complicated. Therefore, we should not simply quantify the number of hours spent daily by students on homework to measure the amount of homework. There are diversified modes of homework. Apart from paper-and-pencil exercises, there may also be reading, information collection, pre-lesson preparation, designing models or project learning, etc. It is thus not practicable to measure statistically the amount of homework or the time spent on doing homework. In fact, such statistics cannot reflect the quality of homework.

     Homework helps students review what has been learnt and acquire new knowledge. The education sector generally agrees that homework has positive educational functions in the learning and teaching process and should not simply be equated with study pressure. The sector considers that a suitable school-based homework policy, which can cater for the diverse abilities and characteristics of students, has a positive impact on student learning. We are of the view that it is not appropriate to set any rigid indicators for schools on an across-the-board basis. Instead, we should encourage schools and teachers to make professional decisions based on their school context and student learning needs. They can design different modes of quality homework for their students in their day-to-day classroom learning and teaching as well as during long holidays. As for individual students with learning difficulties, their schools/teachers should communicate with the parents, adapt homework tasks or make flexible arrangements. Recently before the long holidays, the Government also appealed to schools to provide more interesting holiday homework for their students.
 
(2) and (3) We encourage schools to allocate lesson time flexibly to provide students with suitable homework support in various ways with regard to their school context. Providing tutorial sessions is one of the many ways to support student learning. In primary schools, the main purpose of tutorial sessions is for teachers to provide guidance to students with learning needs, help them tackle learning difficulties, and let them complete part of their homework at school. Apart from providing individual tutorial sessions, teachers may also reserve some time in each lesson to guide students to tackle the more difficult parts of their homework and let them ask questions in class to solve their problems, thereby raising their confidence in learning. Some schools adopt a whole-school approach to support student learning, provide assistance to individual students with learning needs, formulate appropriate homework adjustment strategies and communicate with parents continuously. It is thus not appropriate to simply measure the time allocated for tutorial sessions or to set guidelines to specify the number of tutorial sessions.

(4) The EDB has all along encouraged schools to design homework that stimulates students' thinking and helps them consolidate and apply what they have learnt. Schools should avoid homework in the form of mechanical drilling. We will continue to maintain communication with primary and secondary school councils, regional school heads associations and major school sponsoring bodies to remind them to give due attention to the quality and quantity of homework to be given, and further promote interesting and meaningful homework. We will also strengthen school-based professional support and continue to organise related professional development programmes for newly-appointed principals, deputy principals, curriculum leaders, middle managers, panel chairs and teachers. To enhance teachers' professional capacity, we will reiterate and elaborate on the principles and policy of setting meaningful homework in these professional development programmes. Good practices will also be disseminated for schools' reference. We gain understanding of schools' implementation of their school-based homework policy through prevailing means such as regular inspections, school visits and daily contacts. If necessary, we will provide schools with feedback to help them further refine their school-based homework policy and timetable. We will also make recommendations on improving the quality of homework so as to facilitate student learning as well as their balanced physical and mental health development.

(6) The education systems, curriculum frameworks as well as teaching and assessment policies in different countries/regions are developed based on factors such as their unique social culture, background and economy. They may be taken as reference but should not be adopted directly given the different circumstances.

     When updating the curriculum documents and related circulars, the EDB has made reference to information of different countries/regions, as well as related local and overseas publications and study reports. Views of various stakeholders have also been sought extensively through different channels, including focus group interviews, questionnaire surveys, etc. with a view to developing guidelines that can cater for the developmental needs of students and align with the direction of curriculum development as well as the actual situation of Hong Kong. Regarding the scheduling of lesson time, we understand that schools generally arrange recess time for students every two to three lessons and schedule rest time in between lessons flexibly in light of students' needs. Different interactive learning activities such as group discussions, sharing and presentation sessions are arranged in class. Many schools have made use of double lessons to provide sufficient time for students to engage in life-wide learning activities. Given that schools' context and the learning needs of their students may vary, schools will arrange lesson time flexibly and professionally taking into account their actual situation and the learning needs of their students. Such flexible arrangements may include longer recess time and a combination of long and short lessons to enable the design of diversified learning activities to meet different learning objectives. We will continue to remind schools of the need to improve the school timetable and their school-based homework policy through different means, so as to give students more time to rest, develop personal interests and participate in various aesthetic and physical activities.

     Lastly, we would like to reiterate that whether learning is enjoyable or not may be affected by the amount of homework but more importantly, it is the quality of the learning process that counts. An interesting and inspiring learning process, a sense of achievement gained from completing a challenging assignment and the satisfaction from overcoming learning difficulties or finishing a piece of creative work are all possible sources of joy and happiness. We do not agree to simply equate homework with study pressure and thereby negating the positive educational functions of quality homework. This may mislead students. In the long run, this will also affect the overall educational outcome.

     The Government today (December 5) accepted the proposed holistic assessment strategy submitted by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) regarding the platform slabs and diaphragm walls of the Hung Hom Station Extension under the Shatin to Central Link (SCL) Project. The MTRCL has uploaded the full version of the proposal to its SCL project website.
 
     To verify the as-constructed condition of the structures including the platform slabs of the Hung Hom Station Extension, the Government has requested the MTRCL to formulate a holistic strategy. The MTRCL submitted a proposal on November 23. The Transport and Housing Bureau, together with the relevant government departments, the Expert Adviser Team for the SCL Project and university professors in the field of structural engineering, statistics and actuarial science, scrutinised the proposal in detail. The MTRCL was requested to clarify some technical details and provide further information. A revised proposal was submitted yesterday (December 4) and it was accepted by the Government today.
 
     A Government spokesman stressed, "The holistic assessment strategy must put safety in the first place and be based on evidence and statistical principles to verify issues surrounding the overall structural safety of the East West Line (EWL) and North South Line (NSL) of the Hung Hom Station Extension under the SCL Project."
 
     The MTRCL proposed a three-stage approach for the holistic assessment strategy. The first stage is a desktop exercise which includes reviewing of related design drawings amended and works records consolidated during construction. The second stage is the physical investigation for which opening up and inspection of some of the connections between the platform slabs and the diaphragm walls is required. Non-destructive tests on coupler connections will also be conducted. The second stage will also include a review on other irregularities suspected or made known during the investigation, including honeycombed concrete at the EWL slab soffit, incomplete infill of the gaps between the soffit and other structural elements, and suspected improper installation of shear links reinforcement, so as to investigate the severity, extent and impact of these issues in detail. In the third stage, the MTRCL will consolidate test results and other construction issues found in the first two stages. It will conduct a detailed structural analysis on the Hung Hom Station Extension works to ascertain if the overall condition of the works is acceptable and identify remedial works required should it be undesirable.
 
     As the MTRCL is unable to provide the drawings adopted during the construction of the Hung Hom Station Extension and the as-constructed records, the Government cannot grasp the as-constructed details. Although the MTRCL has lately tried to gather the construction documentation for the slabs and diaphragm walls concerned, these drawings and records are incomplete. Hence, there is a need to open up the concrete for physical investigation to verify the as-constructed conditions due to the gaps in the documentation. This serves the first purpose of the opening up. Meanwhile, in view of the allegation on the cutting-short of steel bars, the MTRCL should open up certain connections between the slabs and diaphragm walls for detailed inspection and non-destructive tests on coupler connections. The locations of opening up would be randomly selected based on a statistical approach. This serves the second purpose of the opening up.
 
     The proposed holistic assessment strategy covers the slabs and diaphragm walls at both the EWL and NSL. The locations of opening up include (i) connections between the top of the EWL slab and diaphragm walls (at least 24 locations) to verify the as-constructed details for the first purpose mentioned above; and (ii) connections between the top and bottom of the EWL slab and the diaphragm walls, and connections between the top of the NSL slab and the diaphragm walls (each with 28 locations randomly selected, i.e. 56 locations in total, to expose at least 168 couplers) to verify the as-constructed coupler connections for the second purpose. A greater sampling size may be considered subject to investigation findings and needs. As the NSL slab is constructed at the formation level, it is infeasible to open up the bottom of the NSL slab for inspection. The MTRCL would review the assumptions to be adopted for the detailed structural analysis in the third stage based on the investigation findings from the above opening up.
 
     The MTRCL indicated that for each slab, if all the exposed couplers are found to be properly connected during the inspection, based on statistics there would be no more than 3.5 per cent of the coupler population with improper connections under a 95 per cent confidence level for each slab. The findings from the opening up would be taken into consideration for the third stage structural assessment to assess the overall condition of the EWL slab, the NSL slab and the diaphragm walls, and whether remedial works would be required.
 
     The holistic assessment strategy also mentions that the MTRCL is monitoring the long-term movement of the structure of the Hung Hom Station Extension. It also recommends a load test, if necessary, to assure the structural integrity of the work.
 
     The MTRCL has largely completed the review of the records at the first stage of assessment and expects to commence the second stage of opening up and examination of the platform slab next Monday (December 10). The MTRCL estimates that it will take at least 16 weeks to complete the entire check as the installed tracks and railway facilities will have to be removed and re-installed before and after the examination. If a load test is needed to ascertain the structural integrity of the Hung Hom Station Extension works, it will take eight additional weeks.

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (December 5) investigating an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) at a kindergarten in Sha Tin, and hence reminded the public and management of institutions to maintain personal and environmental hygiene against AGE.

     The outbreak involves 19 boys and 19 girls aged 3 to 6, who developed fever, diarrhoea and vomiting since November 24. Among them, 32 sought medical attention and one required hospitalisation. All patients are now in a stable condition.
 
     The stool specimen of the hospitalised student tested positive for adenovirus upon laboratory testing.

     Officers of the CHP conducted a site visit and provided health advice to the staff of the school concerning proper and thorough disinfection, proper disposal of vomitus, and personal and environmental hygiene. The school has been put under medical surveillance.
 
     The CHP's investigations are ongoing.
 
     A spokesman for the CHP advised members of the public to take heed of the following preventive measures against gastroenteritis:
 

• Ensure proper personal hygiene;
• Wash hands thoroughly before handling food and eating, after using the toilet or after changing diapers;
• Wear gloves when disposing of vomitus or faecal matter, and wash hands afterwards;
• Clean and disinfect contaminated areas or items promptly and thoroughly with diluted household bleach (by adding one part of bleach containing 5.25 per cent sodium hypochlorite to 49 parts of water). Wash hands thoroughly afterwards;
• Maintain good indoor ventilation;
• Pay attention to food hygiene;
• Use separate utensils to handle raw and cooked food;
• Avoid food that is not thoroughly cooked;
• Drink boiled water; and
• Do not patronise unlicensed food premises or food stalls.

     
     The public may visit the CHP's website (www.chp.gov.hk) or call the Health Education Hotline (2833 0111) for more information. 

     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
 
Question:
 
     To complement the implementation of the municipal solid waste charging (MSWC), the Government will provide recurrent resources to strengthen the relevant waste reduction and recycling work. The provision for the next financial year will be around $300 million to $400 million, which will be increased to $800 million to $1 billion each year from the financial year in which MSWC is implemented. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the respective estimated amounts of the aforesaid provision of $300 million to $400 million to be spent on the following three tasks and the details of the tasks: (i) setting up of outreaching teams across the territory, (ii) provision of free collection service in respect of waste plastics from non-commercial-and-industrial sources and food waste from commercial and industrial (C&I) sources, and (iii) implementation of a pilot scheme of applying reverse vending machines in the recycling of waste plastic containers;
 
(2) whether it will inject the annual revenues from MSWC directly into a fund dedicated for the promotion of waste reduction and recycling in the community; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(3) regarding the measures to improve (i) refuse collection points and (ii) rubbish bins and recycling bins placed in public spaces, of the relevant work targets, timetables and progress; the respective numbers of rubbish bins and recycling bins placed in public spaces in each of the past three years, as well as the estimated numbers of such bins in the first year in which MSWC is implemented;
 
(4) in respect of the municipal solid waste from households and C&I sources, of the respective (i) quantities generated, (ii) quantities recovered and (iii) recovery rates, in each of the past three years, with a tabulated breakdown by type of waste (i.e. food waste, paper, plastics, metal, glass and others);
 
(5) of the respective quantities and percentages of the solid waste, generated in each of the past three years, which was (i) handled by recovery facilities and (ii) exported; and

(6) of the number of reports/complaints about illegal refuse dumping received by the Government, and the number of prosecutions instituted against the persons concerned, in each of the past three years?
 
Reply:
 
President,

     Our reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Hak-kan is as follows:
 
(1) and (2) To complement the implementation of the municipal solid waste (MSW) charging, the Government has announced in the Policy Address the allocation of additional recurrent resources to strengthen our complementary work on promotion of waste reduction and recycling and public education. The Government will provide an additional provision of around $300 million to $400 million for the financial year (FY) 2019/20 to start with, which will be further increased to no less than $800 million to $1,000 million from the FY when the MSW charging is to be implemented. The amount of this annual provision will be commensurate with the estimated gross revenue to be generated from the MSW charging so as to achieve the effect of "dedicated-fund-for-dedicated-use", i.e. the revenue generated from the MSW charging will be used for enhancing waste reduction and recycling work. The Government has been emphasising all along that the introduction of the MSW charging is not for raising public revenue or recovering the cost, as the total revenue generated will be used for enhancing waste reduction and recycling work.
 
     Relevant waste reduction and recycling work under planning include the setting up of new outreaching teams under the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) to provide on-site assistance to the community, thereby putting waste reduction and recycling and the MSW charging into practice; provision of free territory-wide collection service in respect of waste plastics from non-commercial and industrial (C&I) sources and food waste from all sources in the longer run subject to the experiences gained from the pilot schemes to collect non-C&I waste plastics and C&I food waste, as well as the progress of developing food waste recycling facilities in Hong Kong; and implementation of a pilot scheme to assess the effectiveness of applying reverse vending machines (RVMs) in promoting the recycling of plastic beverage containers. The details and estimated expenditure of the above work are as follows:
 
Outreaching Teams

     To further enhance on-site support for recycling, we will set up new outreaching teams directly under the EPD. Building on the existing waste reduction and recycling network, the outreaching teams will collaborate closely with the community green stations (CGSs) and other community partners to educate the public on the importance of waste reduction at source and assist them in practising waste separation and clean recycling, as well as in identifying proper outlets for recyclables. At the same time, the outreaching teams will also promote at the district level the various waste reduction and recycling initiatives launched by the EPD, including the MSW charging and the producer responsibility scheme (PRS) on glass beverage containers, so as to raise public awareness and enhance stakeholders' understanding on the implementation details. We will kick-start pilot outreaching services in the Eastern, Kwun Tong and Sha Tin districts. After gaining actual experiences, we will gradually expand the outreaching services to all districts in Hong Kong. The estimated expenditure for FY 2019/20 is about $130 million.
 
Pilot schemes for collection service in respect of waste plastics from non-C&I sources

     To raise the quantities of waste plastics recovered from households and enhance public confidence in the waste separation and recycling system, the EPD plans to roll out a two-year pilot scheme in the Eastern, Kwun Tong and Sha Tin districts to provide free collection service for waste plastics from non-C&I sources. Service contractors engaged by the EPD will directly collect waste plastics from non-C&I premises in the community such as public and private housing estates, schools, public organisations and the EPD's community recycling centres and CGSs for further treatment including sorting, shredding, cleaning, and melting to produce recycled raw materials or products so that they can be supplied to the local market or exported to ensure proper handling of the collected waste plastics. Having regard to the data collected and experience gained in the pilot scheme and the progress of development of the PRS on plastic beverage containers, we will consider expanding the free collection service for non-C&I waste plastics to cover the whole territory. The estimated expenditure for FY 2019/20 is around $70 million.
 
Pilot schemes for collection service in respect of food waste from C&I sources

     We will continue to promote food waste source separation in the C&I sectors, and plan to make use of the Organic Resources Recovery Centre Phase 1 (O∙Park1) as well as the food waste/sewage sludge co-digesting facilities in Tai Po to conduct a two-year pilot scheme for free collection of food waste, with a view to exploring the feasibility of extending the food waste collection service (which covers transportation and treatment free of charge) to cover all sectors in Hong Kong. The estimated expenditure for FY 2019/20 is approximately $60 million.
 
Pilot scheme on RVMs

     The Government is preparing to introduce a pilot scheme on RVMs in 2019 by placing them at various locations to assess their performance and effectiveness in recycling waste plastic beverage containers. The estimated expenditure for FY 2019/20 is some $4 million.
 
     Besides, we also plan to proactively explore regularising the funding support for Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) and encourage these non-governmental organisation-operated centres to beef up their waste reduction and recycling support to local residents, in close collaboration with the outreaching teams.

     As mentioned above, the Government will further increase the financial provision to no less than $800 million to $1,000 million from the FY when the MSW charging is to be implemented. The amount of this annual provision will be commensurate with the estimated gross revenue to be generated from the MSW charging so as to achieve the effect of "dedicated-fund-for-dedicated-use". We plan to use part of the provision on the aforementioned waste reduction and recycling measures, which would be expanded to cover the whole territory gradually. We are also prepared to gauge the views from the members of the public on how to make use of the rest of the provision to promote waste reduction and recycling work in the community.
 
(3) To enhance the service quality at refuse collection points and improve the environmental hygiene, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) is planning to upgrade, on a trial basis, the facilities at existing aluminium refuse collection points and bin sites in rural areas. This will include introducing "sensor-operated easy-thrown aluminium refuse collection points" and "solar-powered compacting refuse bins", with a view to increasing the storage capacity of refuse collection facilities in rural areas, providing enough space for refuse disposal and reducing environmental nuisance. To this end, the FEHD has approached suitable science and technology companies through the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation, inviting them to submit design proposals on enhancing refuse collection points. If the trial works well, the FEHD will carefully examine the resources and land space required for the new design, and devise a plan on adopting the new design in other rural refuse collection facilities.

     To further enhance the Government's waste reduction and resource recovery efforts in support of the implementation of the MSW charging, the Government has set up the Steering Group on the Modification of Recycling and Refuse Collection Facilities in Public Places (Steering Group) to review the provision and design of recycling bins (RBs) and litter containers (LCs) in public places so as to put forward relevant recommendations.
 
     Having considered the planning parameters recommended by the consultant commissioned by the Steering Group, the FEHD as well as the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) plan to gradually reduce the number of LCs in public places by 40 percent to around 24 000 by the time when the MSW charging is implemented. The overall ratio of RB to LC in public places will be roughly enhanced from 1:14 to 1:6 and the number of RBs in public places will be increased by 45 percent to about 4 000.

     Having regard to relevant factors such as the implementation progress of the MSW charging, the situation on the ground and public reaction, we will from time to time review and adjust the arrangements and complementary measures adopted for recycling and refuse collection facilities in public places. In addition, the Steering Group has also commissioned a consultant to conduct the Stage 2 Consultancy Study to recommend conceptual designs for RBs and LCs and produce prototypes for future public consultation to gauge the views from members of the public, frontline workers and relevant stakeholders.
 
Statistics on RBs and LCs provided by the FEHD and the LCSD in public places between 2016 and 2018 are tabulated below (Note 1).
    

(Note 1): Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
 
(4) Statistics on the disposal and recovery of food waste, paper, plastics, metals and glass between 2014 and 2016 are set out at Annex 1 (2017 figures are being prepared). The EPD does not compile breakdown statistics on the quantities recovered and recovery rates of various waste types by waste source.
  
(5) Statistics on the recyclables recovered from MSW (Note 2) via our local recovery systems from 2014 to 2016 are tabulated below (2017 figures are being prepared).
 

(Note 2): Recyclables recovered from MSW include paper, plastics, metals, glass, rubber tyres, textiles, wood, food waste and electrical and electronic equipment.
 
(6) Figures on the relevant reports/complaints received by the EPD and the FEHD and the number of prosecutions between 2015 and 2017 are set out at Annex 2.