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¡@Waste Pollution

Waste come from:

Factories

Offices

Houses

Now, in HongKong have a lot of rubbish. 10 years ago,HK will have a lot of rubbish You can see the report .

1. Situation in 2000

About 826,000 tonnes of waste paper were recovered in Hong Kong. This represented about 57% of the waste paper generated (dry weight). The recovered waste paper was either recycled/reprocessed locally (22% or 182,000 tonnes1) or exported to the Mainland and other countries for recycling (78% or 644,000 tonnes2, Figure 1,).

1 Environmental Protection Department's data
2 Census & Statistics Department's data

Around 58,000 tonnes of waste paper were imported for recycling. Thus, the total quantity of paper waste reprocessed in Hong Kong was 240,000 tonnes.

Fig 1

Figure 1 Countries to which local waste paper was exported in 20002

2. Local Waste Paper Recovery and Recycling Industry

According to the Environmental Protection Department's data, there are around 120 private waste paper collectors and 2 paper recyclers in operation. Both recyclers also import waste paper from overseas. Lists of local waste paper collectors, recyclers and reprocessors are available through the EPD's Waste Reduction and Recycling Hotline at 2755 2750.

The paper recycling process starts by beating waste paper into pieces in a stirring tank to generate paper pulp. Contaminants are removed while the remaining fibres are fed into fibre refiners to produce refined fibres. The flowing refined pulp is then directed to a paper former for layer deposition. The paper layer is de-watered by a mechanical press, followed by vacuum suction and thermal drying to produce corrugated medium for paper container and paperboard.

The recycled paper produced by local recyclers confines to corrugated paper and duplex papercard for packaging. A variety of waste paper including the high value waste paper (e.g. white paper and computer printout), old corrugated cardboard, newspapers and other mixed paper, are being exported to overseas countries for recycling.

3. Major Constraints on Waste Paper Recovery and Recycling

There are a number of constraints which limit the extent of waste paper recovery and recycling activities in Hong Kong. These include:

  1. The environmental awareness of the general public is relatively low. Promoting waste avoidance on purely environmental reasons may not be sufficient.
  2. As costs for collection and disposal services are not linked directly with the quantity of wastes generated through charging, there is no financial incentive for waste producers to reduce waste.
  3. The built environment inhibits recycling activities from the domestic waste stream. Small flat sizes restrict source separation and storage practices.
  4. High land premium and labour cost affect the economic viability of setting up local recycling facilities.
  5. Volatile economic value of waste paper and a limited local market for recycled paper.
  6. Keen market competition with waste paper imported from other countries.

4. Waste Reduction and Recycling Hotline - 2755 2750

EPD has been operating a hotline service since 1991, which provides specific advice on the setting up of waste reduction/recovery programmes in offices, factories, schools or communities. The advice provided includes types of wastes amenable to recycling, lists of private waste collectors and recyclers, etc.

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