
After a year's delay, Hong Kong is ready to roll out waste charging
shelved its plan to charge households for the waste they produce. Are we any closer to introducing waste charging?
Advertisement
Earlier this month, the Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said the government has been assessing the situation and would report its findings soon to the Legislative Council's Panel on Environmental Affairs. He noted that many conditions had to be in place before the scheme could be rolled out.
We believe the time is right. Over the past year, the government has enhanced its support for recycling and public education. This is a key improvement, given that low recycling rates and low public awareness were the main reasons for the botched roll-out last year.
Tse highlighted significant progress made, including an 80 per cent increase in visits to the
Green@Community recycling network and a nearly 60 per cent rise in recyclables collected in 2024. The government has installed 1,200
smart collection bins for food waste in housing estates across the city, with the aim of increasing the number to 1,600 this year. Meanwhile, the daily per capita municipal solid waste disposal rate dropped from 1.44kg in 2023 to 1.4kg in 2024.
Besides, waste charging would benefit the economy, as South Korea's experience shows. South Korea introduced waste charging in 1995. By 2004, it saw a 24 per cent reduction in waste volume and gained an estimated 8 trillion won (US$5.6 billion) in economic benefits, in terms of avoided waste treatment costs and the market value of increased recycling products, according to a case study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Advertisement
Waste charging could yield similar benefits for Hong Kong. Our Hong Kong Foundation researcher Peter Lam Kung-shing has found that every tonne in waste reduction generates a net benefit of HK$955.50, while every tonne of waste recycling yields HK$125.60. The estimated net benefit of waste charging is HK$637.3 million per year.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


HKFP
4 hours ago
- HKFP
Fraudsters stole Asia Miles and accessed data from 1,000 loyalty accounts, airline Cathay Pacific says
Airline Cathay Pacific has apologised after customer data was breached and frequent flyer miles were stolen from some Asia Miles accounts. Personal particulars and travel details were exposed, though no credit card information was at risk, the flagship carrier said in a Thursday statement. 'Our preliminary investigation suggests that Asia Miles theft by unauthorised parties was the primary motivation, though the misuse of personal data remains a possibility,' the statement said. 'We have identified that approximately 1,000 Cathay accounts, most of which belong to Hong Kong-based members, were impacted by this incident,' the carrier added. Cathay said that it has already been in touch with the majority of affected members, reinstated their lost Asia Miles and restored their accounts. Remaining members are being identified, and their accounts have been temporarily locked for security purposes. Cybersecurity incidents The incident was reported to the authorities, including The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Cathay said. On Monday, Hongkong Post said that a cyberattack on its online shipping portal may have exposed the personal data of senders and recipients. The PCPD, Hong Kong's privacy watchdog, said in November that 70 per cent of Hong Kong companies had experienced some form of cyberattack in the past year. In March, Hong Kong lawmakers passed a law meant to enhance safeguards for the city's key infrastructure systems against cyberattacks, imposing fines of up to HK$5 million for cybersecurity lapses.


South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong urged to make itself ‘truly the world's green financial centre'
Hong Kong is poised to play an invaluable role in sustainable development by capitalising on its strengths in green finance given mainland China's status as a leader in advanced green technologies, a top American economist has said. Advertisement Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor and director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, also said on Thursday that the Greater Bay Area was superior to Silicon Valley. Beijing should also speed up the internationalisation of the renminbi, he said. 'The role of Hong Kong in sustainable development is becoming central for the whole world,' Sachs said at an event hosted by the newly formed Hong Kong Association for External Friendship, a non-governmental organisation. The UN's Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by all of its member states in 2015, are a set of 17 global targets aimed at ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for all by 2030. Sachs said China had a unique role to play in driving sustainable development as it was the world's largest industrial nation and the 'lowest-cost producer' of advanced green and digital technology. Advertisement Hong Kong's role, in turn, was to provide the financing needed and serve as a bridge that connected the world through bond issuances, listings and finding business partners.

The Standard
5 hours ago
- The Standard
Trump says he wants Musk and his companies to thrive in US
Trump says he wants Musk and his companies to thrive in US U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS