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Letters | Don’t waste a chance to ease the public into waste reduction
- Readers discuss why Hong Kong must save the waste-charging scheme, the risk of crypto-exchanges losing customers’ deposits, and one way to end the Ukraine war
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The waste-charging scheme has been shelved again, amid compliance rates as low as 20 per cent during a trial run and general confusion over how it would be rolled out.
Our landfills are expected to fill up by 2026, and yet shipping our waste to the mainland is not a wise option, given Hong Kong’s position in the Greater Bay Area’s tourism economy.
On the one hand, we cannot put off waste charging any more and avoid the landfill issue, especially if our city is being promoted as a global hub for green technology and finance. We would also do well to keep up with – if not abreast of – the status quo of waste-charging schemes that are maturing in competing economies, such as South Korea’s Volume-Based Waste Fee system and Singapore’s waste collection charging via utility bills.
On the other hand, every policy needs to be implemented with public will for the greater good.
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In shelving the scheme, the government has pledged to hand out 20 garbage bags for free monthly to every household in public rental flats for half a year, double the number of food waste recycling facilities and add 100 mobile collection spots within a year.
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