Flushing food waste down the toilet? Poor families worry about extra costs of Hong Kong’s rubbish charging scheme, call for grace period
- Society for Community Organisation poll finds quarter say they may flush food waste down toilet and more than half say will avoid taking out trash every day
- According to poll, 43 per cent of respondents call for one-year delay for certain underprivileged communities
About a quarter of respondents to a survey on Hong Kong’s coming waste charging scheme have said they may flush their food waste down the toilet, and more than half said they will avoid taking out their trash every day due to the extra costs involved.
The poll of low-income households carried out by the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) also found that 43 per cent of respondents were in favour of giving certain underprivileged communities another year to prepare for the scheme, which is due to be implemented this August after already being delayed from April.
SoCO said on Sunday the government should provide targeted support to low-income families, for example by expanding its recycling network and giving out free bags during the transition period.
“It’s unrealistic to launch the scheme on August 1,” said SoCO deputy director Sze Lai-shan. “We doubt if the government can beef up the support measures and adequately educate the public in just a few months.”
The waste charging scheme will require residents to buy government-approved plastic bags, available in nine sizes, for 11 cents (1.4 US cents) a litre, to dispose of their trash.
