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The Mainland's "Waste Ban" counts down the way out of waste paper in Hong Kong, welcomes domestic and foreign troubles, and pulp becomes a new turn

2020-09-27T16:14:50.267Z


According to data from the Environmental Protection Department in 2018, the daily waste paper disposal volume in Hong Kong reached 2,702 metric tons, a record high in recent years, but the recycling rate continued to drop to 41%. In order to maintain or improve the quality and quantity of local waste paper recycling, the government


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Written by: Lao Minyi

2020-09-28 00:00

Last update date: 2020-09-28 00:00

According to data from the Environmental Protection Department in 2018, the daily waste paper disposal volume in Hong Kong reached 2,702 metric tons, a record high in recent years, but the recycling rate continued to drop to 41%.

In order to maintain or improve the quality and quantity of local waste paper recycling, the government has stabilized the front-line recycling price and scavengers' recycling power through the form of "centralized paper collection". However, it has not announced that the Mainland will stop collecting overseas waste paper next year. What should local paper do? ?

The waste paper recycling plant in the Ecological Park in Tuen Mun. The company won the bid for two years and has not started construction. The news is that it will withdraw. The government met with the industry earlier and intends to build a pulp mill in the Ecological Park. The company expressed interest.

Environmental groups also believe that Hong Kong needs a pulp mill to avoid dependence on other places. The Hong Kong government can ensure that waste paper is given priority to local mills through a fine-tuning subsidy scheme. However, in the long run, waste levy and incentives for recycling are needed to greatly increase recycling. Support operations.

Series reports:

The site of the waste paper recycling plant in Environmental Protection Park has been basking in the sun for two years.

The Mainland's "Waste Ban" counts down the way out of waste paper in Hong Kong, welcomes domestic and foreign troubles, and pulp becomes a new turn

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The last paper mill in Hong Kong closed in 2006

The two major paper mills in Hong Kong, "Hong'an Paper Mill" and "Jiezhong Paper Mill", closed down in the 1990s. The last "Nanhua Paper Mill" also closed in September 2006.

The "Nanhua Paper Mill" processed about 260 metric tons of waste paper every day before closing. However, oil prices continued to rise at that time, coupled with the government's intention to tighten the sulfur standards for industrial diesel fuel, and the high cost of clean diesel fuel made the paper mills unable to make ends meet. Closed.

Ye Wenqi said that the recycling volume of pulp mills fell sharply under the epidemic.

(Photo by Liang Pengwei)

The Mainland has announced zero imports of solid waste by the end of the year

There is no waste paper recycling plant in Hong Kong, and the recovered waste paper must be exported. However, the Mainland has long predicted that it will basically achieve zero import of solid waste by the end of this year, and completely prohibit foreign waste (including all waste paper) from entering. By then, local waste paper may only Sold to Southeast Asia, or made into pulp.

The Environmental Protection Department currently employs 17 contractors in the form of service contracts to provide waste paper collection and recycling services throughout Hong Kong. The first half of the contract must be at least 0.7 yuan per kilogram for frontline recycling personnel and other waste paper producers Water, waste paper not mixed with other impurities.

After the contractor carries out the local screening, sorting and packaging processes, the waste paper is exported to the mainland or overseas markets for recycling and then regenerated into paper products.

Ye Wenqi revealed that in July this year, the Environmental Protection Department took a look at the industry, saying that it will build a pulp mill in the Environmental Protection Park to process 300,000 metric tons of local waste paper each year, and understand the bidding intentions of insiders.

(Photo by Liang Pengwei)

The recovery volume of the pulp mill has not been satisfactory for nearly a year

Ye Wenqi, the co-founder and executive director of "Mil Mill Meowfang", is a pulp manufacturer. The Confidential Information Processing Co., Ltd. (SSID) established by him and three recyclers form a joint venture with KPSS to become one of the government's waste paper recycling contractors. Processing and export work, but all encountered obstacles.

"Mil Mill" has been in operation for nearly a year, but the daily recovery volume of the main recycled paper-packed beverage boxes is less than two metric tons on average. During the epidemic, it has dropped to more than 100 kilograms a day. In recent months, it has been necessary to add paper skins to increase pulp. The quantity, also allows the machine to continue to operate.

Facing the authorities' high-profile invitation of waste paper recyclers to become government contractors and changing the layout of the industry, Ye Wenqi described it as having to participate, otherwise others would have government subsidies to "grab paper" and he would be at a disadvantage.

Although there are government subsidies for exporting waste paper to Southeast Asia, he expects that paper prices will fall further as the mainland refuses to accept overseas waste paper and waste paper flows to Southeast Asia.

Pulp will not be affected under the zero waste import policy outside the mainland.

Ye Wenqi revealed that the Environmental Protection Agency accepts in principle that the contractor will include the pulp of the "three papers" (that is, newspapers, books, office paper and paper) into the scope of export subsidies, but it will still be notified when it will be implemented. Mainland China), a good insurance."

The site of the waste paper recycling plant in Environmental Protection Park has been basking in the sun for two years.

The Environmental Protection Agency intends to invite tenders to build a pulp mill in the Environmental Protection Park. Ye Wenqi believes that there is no worries about the way out for a small pulp mill, but the large amount will increase the worry, especially the investment of 100 million yuan, and the lease term is as long as 20 years.

He explained that if waste paper cannot be imported into the mainland next year, the export of pulp will be exempted from restrictions, and there will be a stable return. However, if the mainland’s policy changes, local paper can continue to be imported in other ways. The market looks at the price and does not necessarily have to supply paper to local factories. Therefore, we still communicate with potential partners to evaluate the feasibility of setting up a new factory.

Southeast Asian pulp mills may return to Hong Kong

As for "Jianxun Environmental Recycling", which has a paper mill in Dongguan, the managing director Chen Xikun expressed his interest in setting up a pulp mill. If it succeeds, he will provide one-stop service for recycling.

He said that the parent company, Jianhui Paper, has pulp mills in Malaysia and Thailand. He is worried that the environmental protection laws that change from time to time will prevent overseas waste paper from being imported locally, resulting in unstable supply. On the contrary, setting up factories in Hong Kong can ensure that there are Stabilize the supply of raw materials, but the prerequisite is that the Hong Kong government ensures that the factory has sufficient supply.

Zhu Hanqiang, Director of the Green Earth Environmental Initiative, believes that the Hong Kong government has hired a contractor "Central Paper Collection" to specify the lowest recycling price per kilogram of waste paper on the front line, which will help stabilize the livelihoods of recycling shops and scavengers.

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Next year or rely on bilateral agreements to continue importing waste paper

In recent years, the recovery rate of waste paper in Hong Kong has continued to decline. As there is no paper mill for processing, it depends entirely on export for recycling.

It is understood that the Hong Kong government may use the Greater Bay Area concept or bilateral agreements with the Mainland to allow Hong Kong's waste paper to continue to be imported into the Mainland next year, and the latest arrangements will be announced by the end of the year.

Zhu Hanqiang, Director of the Green Earth Environmental Initiative, believes that the Hong Kong government has hired a contractor "Central Paper Collection" to specify the lowest recycling price per kilogram of waste paper on the front line, which will help stabilize the livelihoods of recycling shops and scavengers.

Exporting waste paper is not the only way out. He believes that a local pulp mill is needed to allow Hong Kong people to dispose of their own waste to avoid long-term dependence on foreign countries. However, if the Mainland allows local waste paper imports in the future, the Hong Kong government may need to fine-tune the recycling subsidy program. Prioritize the supply of waste paper to local factories, cooperate with garbage levy, and increase the incentives for citizens to recycle, so as to support operations.

The EPA’s reply did not disclose the new arrangements for the import of waste paper into the Mainland next year. It continued to repeat the previous answer that "reflect the local recycling market situation and various opinions of the recycling industry to the country, and explore how to develop in the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development Plan" The following brings new opportunities for Hong Kong’s resource recycling."

The processing volume of the South China Food Waste Plant has not reached the standard for many years, and the operation is closed early for seven and a half years. The Environmental Protection Department is following up

The government hires 17 contractors to collect waste paper at a minimum price of 7 cents per kilogram to stabilize the income of scavengers

The EPA hires a contractor to collect waste paper at a recycling price of $0.7 per kilogram, exporters earn less than scavengers

The EPA's waste paper recycling service will start tomorrow, and the recycling price will be no less than 7 cents per kilo

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Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Park Recycling

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-09-27

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