The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, today (July 4) attended a food waste recycling promotion event held at Ping Shek Estate in Kwun Tong, marking the completion of the expansion of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD)'s food waste collection scheme to all public rental housing (PRH) estates across the territory, which was accomplished two months ahead of the original target.
The EPD, in collaboration with the Housing Department and the Hong Kong Housing Society, launched the Food Waste Collection Scheme in PRH Estates in late October 2022, targeting to collect food waste by setting up food waste smart recycling bins (FWSRBs) in all of the 213 PRH estates in the territory by the end of August this year and cultivate residents' good habits of food waste recycling. As of the end of June this year, the EPD has installed a total of 740 FWSRBs covering all of the PRH estates, which was two months ahead of the original target.
"Since taking office, the current-term Government has made great efforts to expedite strengthening recycling facilities, especially on the collection of domestic food waste, which accounts for 30 per cent of municipal solid waste. The expansion of the Food Waste Collection Scheme to all PRH estates across the territory ahead of schedule fully demonstrated the Government's determination and achievements in promoting waste reduction and recycling," Mr Tse said.
He added that the food waste collected from PRH estates will be delivered to various food waste treatment facilities for conversion into electricity and compost. The EPD will continue to install FWSRBs in newly developed PRH estates and has planned to provide additional FWSRBs with priority given to PRH estates with higher quantities of collected food waste, starting from the third quarter of this year. The department will also progressively increase the number of FWSRBs in other PRH estates, with the goal of providing at least "one FWSRB per PRH block" within two years to facilitate the public's food waste recycling.
In addition to PRH estates, the Government has been supporting the installation of FWSRBs in private residential buildings and rural villages for collecting food waste through the Recycling Fund and the Environment and Conservation Fund. At the end of last year, the EPD also collaborated with the Environmental Campaign Committee to roll out the Pilot Scheme on FWSRBs in Private Housing Estates, under which FWSRBs are provided for free to private housing estates with over 1 000 households. The EPD will expand the existing scheme to cover private housing estates with fewer than 1 000 households. Details will be announced in the third quarter of this year.
To enable residents living in single-block residential buildings or "three-nil buildings" to participate in food waste recycling in the coming year, the EPD will further enhance various schemes for food waste collection in the domestic sector, including setting up 100 food waste recycling spots that provide night-time food waste collection services in the form of kerbside collection booths at fixed times and locations, and also establishing food waste recycling points at about 100 Refuse Collection Points. Moreover, the EPD has installed FWSRBs for public use in four GREEN@COMMUNITY facilities (GREEN@SHAM SHUI PO, GREEN@EASTERN, GREEN@SAI KUNG and GREEN@SHA TIN) and at Lockhart Road Market, and is preparing to expand it to GREEN@TUEN MUN by mid-July of this year.
The awareness of waste reduction and recycling in the community has increased in general. With the introduction of various measures to facilitate public participation in food waste recycling, together with publicity and education as well as the provision of GREEN$ rewards to encourage active participation of the public, the EPD expects that the quantity of food waste recycled will progressively increase, and it will continue to encourage more residents to participate in food waste recycling through various means.
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