​The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, and the Under Secretary for Education, Mr Sze Chun-fai, today (January 16) visited Yaumati Kaifong Association School to view information boards on municipal solid waste (MSW) charging and participate in a quiz game together with 80 students from the Yaumati Kaifong Association School and the TKDS Fong Shu Chuen School, so as to encourage them to understand the details of MSW Charging and bring the information back home to share with their families.
Mr Tse said, "MSW charging will be implemented on April 1. Our implementation strategy is firstly, through education as nurturing the public to develop the habit of clean recycling is particularly important. Therefore, we attach great importance to the promotion and educational work at the school level. To encourage students to actively bring relevant information home and share it with their families after obtaining the information at school, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is going to distribute a 15-litre pre-paid designated bag (DB) to each primary school student in Hong Kong progressively, so that they can bring the MSW charging information from school to home, which will help the publicity work of MSW charging reach every family more effectively."
The EPD will also arrange for publicity materials on MSW charging, including posters, banners, electronic leaflets, etc, to be displayed in all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong and distribute the materials to students, staff members and parent groups of all primary and secondary schools by email.
In addition to strengthening educational promotion, related complementary arrangements on MSW charging will be progressively introduced. In particular, the EPD has been setting up a territory-wide retail network, covering approximately 3 000 retail points including supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and online platforms. The EPD has signed contracts with major chain retailers. Starting from the second half of January to February, designated bags and labels of different sizes will be available for sale at retail locations and online platforms. Details of the retail points have been uploaded to the dedicated website on MSW charging (www.mswcharging.gov.hk/en/) yesterday and will be updated as appropriate.
Moreover, to facilitate residential residents' organisations, owners' corporations, property management companies or cleaning companies, as well as other industrial and commercial organisations to purchase designated bags and designated labels in bulk order, the EPD has been accepting bulk purchase applications from late 2023. Organisations interested in applying to open a bulk order account can download the application form from the MSW charging dedicated website (www.mswcharging.gov.hk/en/). The EPD will process its application as soon as possible to get it prepared for the implementation of MSW charging. As the number of bulk order accounts is expected to increase gradually, organisations with bulk order accounts are advised to place orders of designated bags and labels as soon as possible.
Follow this news feed: East Asia