Hong Kong’s Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) has rolled out a scheme to reduce and source separate food waste from housing developments.
Food waste accounts for about one third of the 9,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposed of every day in Hong Kong’s landfills.
Under the scheme housing estates are to be encouraged to partner with non-government organisations, hold education and promotion programmes to raise residents’ awareness of food waste reduction and engage the active participation in food waste recycling by residents.
The ECF says that the scheme also subsidises the installation and operation of on-site food waste treatment facilities at participating housing estates.
The government announced in January this year a comprehensive action plan that includes a number of initiatives to reduce waste at source, combined with modern waste treatment facilities and landfill expansions .The funding for this food waste scheme is part of the government’s overall strategy to tackle food waste.
Organic waste treatment facilities are being developed at Siu Ho Wan and Sha Ling to handle food wastes in bulk. At the same time, the ECF says that efforts are being made to encourage the reduction of food waste and its proper treatment at source.
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) will also operate a help-desk service to provide technical advice to applicants during planning and implementation, and assist them in identifying suitable places for on-site food waste treatment facilities. To consolidate experience from the scheme, the ECF says that the help-desk service will also provide detailed operational guidelines and a reporting framework to help applicants conduct performance evaluation.
“The support of individual households is crucial to our effort to reduce the generation and disposal of food waste,” a spokesman for the EPD said. “We hope the scheme will include a variety of housing in terms of their types, age and geographical areas so as to consolidate experiences for sharing in the future.”
