Recycling in Hong Kong
Recycling is the third of the well-known ‘3 Rs’, following Reduce and Reuse in the hierarchy of solutions to reduce waste. It is not the answer to the world’s plastic pollution problem, but it is an important action to take as it will help minimise the amount of virgin plastic needed to make new items which is important given the harm that the extraction of oil and production of plastic causes. It is also beneficial as fossil fuels are a non-renewable natural resource.
Recycling is the “reprocessing, by means of a manufacturing process, of a used … material into a product, a component incorporated into a product, or a secondary (recycled) raw material; excluding energy recovery and the use of the product as a fuel.”
A plastic collection and sorting facilities in Yuen Long, NT
Baled, mixed plastic waste
Challenges with Recycling
When China instituted Operation Green Fence in 2013, and particularly when they followed it with the China National Sword policy in 2018, the challenges of recycling became evident around the world. Half of the world’s plastic recycling had been sent to China, and Hong Kong also relied primarily on China to handle its recycling of not only plastic and other recyclable materials.
Historically in Hong Kong, the bulk of the ‘recycling’ done by companies didn’t have much to do with the collection of recyclables in HK. They imported recyclable material from other countries and then exported it, with little or no processing taking place here in HK. The recyclable material collected in Hong Kong was mainly baled and then exported for handling elsewhere, mostly in China.
Since changes in 2018 which saw China ban the importation of many recyclable materials, local plastic ‘recycling’ has evolved somewhat to include a small amount of local processing into secondary raw materials such as plastic flakes or pellets, but still very little of the waste collected in Hong Kong is processed in this way. Most continues to be exported to other countries as it is generally deemed to be not sorted well enough, not clean enough or not in enough quantity to be feasibly recycled locally.
Operation Green Fence
In February 2013, China’s Operation Green Fence was implemented. China launched greater inspections of incoming loads of scrap material in an effort aimed at curtailing the amount of contaminated recyclables and waste that was being imported. The Green Fence policy was in fact an effort to enforce import regulations passed in 2006 and 2010.
China National Sword
This is China’s latest and strictest regulation on imports of solid wastes as raw materials. China’s National Sword policy, enacted in January 2018, banned the import of most plastics and other materials headed for China’s recycling processors, which had handled nearly half of the world’s recyclable waste for the past quarter century. The policy banned various types of plastic, paper and other solid waste materials, and set strict contamination limits on what they do accept.
Types of Plastic
Plastic is often identified with a plastic resin code number molded on it, indicating the type of plastic that it is. This may help you to determine whether it can be recycled in your location.
Although all plastics are potentially recyclable, there needs to be enough quantity to make it cost effective to process, and there must be a demand for that recycled plastic.
Due to the low price of oil, it can be cheaper to make new products with virgin plastic rather than recycled plastic. Therefore, the demand, especially for many lower value plastics, has dropped.
The Plastic Recycling Industry in Hong Kong
Most of the facilities in Hong Kong are small and rely mainly on manual sorting along conveyer belts. Hong Kong does not have any of the typical material recovery facilities, known as MRFs, which can be found in other developed countries handling mixed recycling. The few higher tech plastic recycling systems in HK handle only plastic, not mixed waste, and some may be able to separate up to three types of plastic at one time.
(The below videos were filmed in Sept, 2016)
Plastics not removed from the sorting conveyor belt will end up in Hong Kong’s landfills.
Bagged plastic won’t be emptied and separated due to health and safety reasons. Plastic must be loose.
Recyclables are often contaminated with hazardous materials, such as diapers!
Making Plastic Pellets Hong Kong (30th March 2018)
This is the ‘noodle to rice’ machine which makes recycled plastic pellets out of clear LDPE plastic film. The clear film is chopped into chunks in the guillotine before it is fed onto the conveyor belt. It enters the the heating chamber where it is melted and pushed out the other end in spaghetti-like noodles. The continuous strings of plastic are fed through a water bath for cooling and setting before they enter the final phase of being chopped into tiny plastic ‘rice-like’ pellets. The collected plastic pellets are then pumped into a large transport sack, ready to sell.
What and Where to Recycle in Hong Kong ?
As per the Hong Kong Waste Reduction website, you can recycle the following in the street bins throughout Hong Kong:
- Paper – newspaper, books and magazines; office paper; corrugate cardboard (carton boxes)
- Plastic – beverage bottles and personal care bottles (PET #1 and HDPE #2 plastic)
- Metal – iron/aluminium cans, milk powder cans, cookware, food containers
- Glass – bottles and jars; no light bulbs, cookware, windows, etc.
Private residential buildings, estates, office buildings, shopping malls, etc. also facilitate recycling of paper, metal, plastic and sometimes glass with separation bins managed by their own contracted waste management companies. Check with your building management to find out what they accept for recycling.
Specialised Recycling of Items
We have to move away from the idea of ‘wish recycling’. Some items are only recyclable if they are taken to a special processing facility. If these items are put in the general recyclables collection stream (street bins) they will not get recycled, no matter how hard you wish for it!
Green@Community
The EPD is building a community recycling network throughout HK in the form of Recycling Stations, Recycling Stores and Recycling Spots. This network will accept at least the eight common types of recyclables – paper, liquid cartons, metal, plastic, glass bottles/jars, regulated electrical equipment, small electrical appliances, fluorescent lamps and tubes, and rechargeable batteries. The recyclables will be sorted and delivered to downstream recyclers for proper handling. The public can earn Green$ for redemption of daily necessities and groceries by recycling. Find out more here.
NGO Collection Points
Pop-up Recycling Stations
These citizen-led collections of recyclables including polyfoam and liquid cartons were set up individually across Hong Kong in response to what was felt by some people to be an insufficient government-led system of recycling collection. The materials are properly sorted by type when dropped off, and the organisers ensure that they are sent to an appropriate recycler for handling. A main goal of these stations is education, not only on the types of plastic which can be recycled, but most importantly on the need to reduce the use of plastic. Check with your closest pop-up recycling station to find out what they will accept.
*Due to Covid-19, these facilities are generally suspended.
Community Recycling Day in Discovery Bay
A win for the Discovery Bay community – what started off as monthly collections of recyclables (polyfoam, beverage cartons, coffee cups and lids, and contact lens packaging) jointly organised by Plastic Free Seas and DB Green volunteers has now been taken over the Green@Community Station in Tung Chung. A great two year effort by many volunteers to establish this long term managed recycling!
To find out what recyclables are collected and when the next event is CLICK HERE
Mil Mill, the only paper processing facility handling multi-layer paper-based containers such as liquid cartons (often referred to as Tetra-Paks) and coffee cups, opened in 2019. Mil Mill handles other types of paper, but due to the numerous layers of material in liquid cartons (paper, plastic and aluminium), the pulping process takes longer so it is preferable not handle these materials with other paper products.
The facility can process up to 10 tonnes of liquid cartons per shift and if they had the volume, they could run three shifts per day. In 2020, the government estimated that 66 tonnes of liquid cartons were sent to landfill every day. Even at full capacity, Mil Mill would not be able to handle all of the liquid cartons used in HK. But pre-Covid-19, only about 2 tonnes per day were collected. The processing to separate the paper from the non-fibre portions (plastic and aluminium) is not difficult – it’s the collection that is the challenging part. For this facility, the material must be clean and the cartons must be prepared properly by the consumer: cut open, washed and dried with the cap and spout removed. Adding to the collection challenges, you can’t simply place these items in a paper recycling bin. There are designated collection points, ranging from specially designed bins located in public and private areas to daily or weekly collection options. Find the collection point nearest you on this map. You can also send your clean material directly to the facility in Yuen Long.
How to Prepare Your Liquid Cartons
Don’t forget to remove the cap and spout!
Mil Mill offers tours of their facility to schools and groups. Contact [email protected] for more information, or visit the website below.
(Click on the above graphic to download)
* Due to Covid-19, most collection bins are temporarily suspended. Please take your liquid cartons to a Green@Community collection location.