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 resin code number, either within a triangle or a ‘chasing arrow’. This may be molded onto the bottom of the plastic or printed on a label, and indicates the type of plastic that it is, not whether it can be recycled.
Although many plastics are potentially recyclable, there must be a demand for that recycled plastic and there needs to be enough quantity to make it cost effective to process.
Due to the low price of oil, it can be cheaper to make new products with virgin plastic rather than recycled plastic. Therefore, the isn’t always a high demand for certain types of recycled plastic, especially for lower value plastics and plastic that is contaminated.
The Plastic Recycling Industry in Hong Kong
Many of the recycling 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. Even the high-tech plastic recycling facilities in HK handle only plastic, not mixed recyclables, and some rely on receiving only certain types of plastic waste, such as New Life Plastics, which only handles plastic beverage bottles.
(The below videos were filmed in Sept, 2016)
Only the desired plastics are removed from the sorting conveyor belt. The rest may end up in Hong Kong’s landfills.
Bagged plastic won’t be emptied and separated due to health and safety reasons. Put recyclables into recycling bins 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. (This plastic film was imported waste, not locally sourced.)
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 bottles – beverage bottles and personal care containers
- Other plastics – bags, packaging, CDs/DVDs, disposable tableware
- Metal – iron/aluminium cans, milk powder cans, cookware, food containers, other metals
- Glass – bottles and jars; no light bulbs, cookware, windows, etc.
It is important that all items put in the recycling bins are clean, and put in the correct bin.
Private residential buildings, estates, office buildings, shopping malls, etc. also facilitate recycling of paper, metal, plastic and sometimes glass and liquid cartons (drink boxes) with separation bins managed by their own contracted waste management companies. Check with your building management to find out what they accept for recycling.
Don't Wish Cycle!
iWe have to move away from the idea of ‘wish recycling’. Know what can and cannot be recycled in your collection bins, and follow those instructions. Even if something is theoretically recyclable, if it is not wanted in your recycling stream, it won’t get recycled, no matter how hard you wish for it!
The best ways to recycling in Hong Kong
The EPD has created a recycling network throughout HK in the form of Recycling Stations, Recycling Stores and Recycling Spots. This network, known as Green@Community, accept the common types of recyclables – paper, metal, plastic, glass bottles/jars, liquid cartons (drink boxes), 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.
There are also local collectors who will come to your home or office to pick up your recycling for a fee and make sure that everything gets to the right place where it will have the best chance of getting recycled. Here are some examples: V Cycle, Love Recycling Plus, The Loops, Sou Sou Plastic. If you are a company and would like to be able to quantify your waste management, i.e. how much waste you are diverting from landfill, this is a great option.
Green@Community Recycling Spot in Discovery Bay
A win for the Discovery Bay community – what started off as monthly collections of recyclables (polyfoam, drink cartons, coffee cupps and lids and much more) jointly organised by Plastic Free Seas and DB Green volunteers was taken over by the government-funded Green@Community network. A great effort over 2 years by many volunteers to establish a long term weekly managed recycling collection!
To find out what recyclables are collected and when and where the weekly event is held, 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 disposable fibre food and beverage containers such as coffee cups, opened in 2019. Due to the numerous layers of material that liquid cartons are made from – paper, plastic and aluminium – they are recycled separately, not with other paper products. Mil Mill also handles fibre food and beverage containers such as disposable coffee cups.
The facility can process 10 tonnes of material per day, but pre-Covid-19, only 2 tonnes per day were collected. Considering that in 2023, 80 tonnes per day were sent to landfill, this is insufficient to handle all of the liquid cartons used in HK, but it will allow the recovery of the valuable paper used for the items that do get recycled. The collection of this type of packaging is challenging as they require their own recycling collection stream. Mil Mill requires that the material is clean and that the cartons are washed and dried with the cap and spout removed. There are designated bins located in public and private areas, and they are collected by Green@Community. Find the location nearest you on this map of the collection points although there are new locations popping up regularly. 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.
(Click on the above graphic to download)