01 view
Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-02-10 07:00
Last update date: 2021-02-10 07:00
The Environment Bureau published the "Hong Kong Resource Recycling Blueprint 2035" on Tuesday (8th). The document inherits the "Blueprint 2013-2022" from eight years ago. The goal is to reduce per capita waste disposal by 40% to 45% and the recycling rate to reach 55%. , In the long run, it will no longer treat waste in landfills.
The government claimed that the measures proposed in the last "Blueprint", except that municipal solid waste charges are still under review, all other actions have been implemented and progress has been made, and a number of additional measures have been introduced.
However, as long as you review the content of the vision of the year, you will know that today's progress is far behind the goal, like a failure.
Even if "Blueprint 2035" is achieved in the future, it will only catch up with the goal of 2022.
If the government does not thoroughly review the reasons for the failure, it is really hard to put high hopes on.
The most obvious manifestation of the failure of environmental protection in Hong Kong is that the amount of waste per capita per day has risen instead of falling, far exceeding the target set in 2013.
At that time, it was expected that the daily per capita disposal amount of municipal solid waste in 2022 was 0.8 kg, which was about one-third less than the 1.27 kg in 2011. However, by 2019, the figure has actually risen to 1.47 kg. Director Huang Jinxing said the economic performance in the past few years In addition, the delay in passing the waste levy bill is the main reason.
The Environment Bureau published the "Hong Kong Resource Cycle Blueprint 2035".
(Photo by Li Zetong)
Introspect before accusing others
The fact that the bill has not moved forward will have no pressure on households and businesses to reduce waste and sort waste from the source, but Huang Jinxing cannot completely shift the responsibility to the Legislative Council.
In the "Blueprint 2013-2022", the government originally expected that the bill would be passed in 2018, and the amount of disposal would be reduced by 20% in the next four to five years, from 1 kg to 0.8 kg.
The reality is that the amount of disposal in 2017 rose to 1.45 kg, which proves that the earlier recovery and fee reduction measures did not work, but the Secretary avoided talking about it.
Furthermore, looking back at the legislative process, the government waited until mid-November 2018 to read the bill for the first time at the Legislative Council meeting. In the same year, it was impossible to pass the bill smoothly, and at least it would not be implemented until early 2020. It is only two to three years before 2022. Wanting to meet the subsequent waste reduction goal is simply a dream.
The legislative council's spreading and internal fighting may have delayed the deliberation of the people's livelihood bill, including garbage levy, but the government is not necessarily fast in drafting legislation to the community trial plan, and must bear considerable responsibilities.
In fact, apart from the garbage levy, the expanded plastic bag levy and the glass bottle producer responsibility system promised in the previous "Blueprint" have not been seen. The second phase of the organic resource recycling center will be postponed to 2022. Shigu The Zhouzhou incinerator will be completed in 2025. The only obvious result is the "four computers and one brain" waste electrical recycling measures implemented in 2018. It can be seen that administrative-led regulations and slow infrastructure work have weakened the decade of waste reduction and recycling. Main cause of effectiveness.
In addition, the last "Blueprint" expected the waste recovery rate to reach 55% in 2022, but the proportion in 2019 is still only 29%. One of the reasons is that the government has not helped to open up the recycling industry chain as soon as possible.
With expensive manpower and logistics costs, it is difficult for recyclers to collect materials from house to house.
Just by looking at the tenants of the Eco Park withdrawing one by one, you can see how dispirited the merchants are.
Take the recycling of waste plastic as an example. The EPA did not pilot the "central rubber collection" pilot program in the three districts until the beginning of last year. It was too late to approve recyclers to collect and process waste plastic to facilitate sales.
Regarding paper recycling, the government ignored the opinions of the industry in the early days and insisted on building a paper recycling plant in the Environmental Protection Park. As a result, the winning company finally returned the bid. The officials turned the bid to build a pulp mill last year, which wasted time and wasted land.
There is a blueprint and more concrete work
The new "Blueprint" has many goals, especially the reduction in the recovery rate compared with the previous one. However, since the results of the previous "Blueprint" are not up to standard, it will be a government problem for the public to believe that the new goals can be achieved by 2035. .
The immediate task is of course to pass the garbage levy bill. However, given that the new "Blueprint" does not set an expected date for its approval, and the establishment that dominates the parliament "sighs", it seems difficult to vote in the short term.
The problem is that the garbage levy is not a success. Even if policies such as the "Glass Beverage Container Producer Responsibility Plan" and "Control of Disposable Plastic Containers and Tableware" set the expected time and passed smoothly, the waste reduction goal can only be said to be twice the result, let alone. Is to increase the recovery rate.
Therefore, the Environment Bureau must try its best to persuade Members to seriously consider the motion and not to neglect it.
Second, the government needs to be more sensitive to waste disposal policies in the Mainland and the world.
In the past few years, the prices of waste paper and waste rubber have fluctuated sharply, and the mainland has restricted the import of low-quality waste paper and foreign waste. The government and the recycling industry have failed to respond in time, causing the entire industrial chain to break and even the scene of waste paper siege.
It is believed that more places will introduce bans in the next ten years, and Hong Kong cannot rely on other places to deal with local waste.
Fortunately, the new crown pneumonia epidemic has changed the minds of mankind. The world pays more attention to sustainable development and opens up business opportunities for circular economy.
The Hong Kong government should not lag behind others. It should deepen the industrial scope in the "Blueprint", list the pace of resource regeneration and upgrade, try to support logistics and land use, and stabilize the hearts of existing recycling merchants and manufacturers so that they can continue to invest in business , So that citizens feel that the government has done something.
According to the Environmental Protection Department, there are 12 parcels of land in the Eco-Park, and the remaining two or three parcels have not been leased out.
(Profile Picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
It is worth mentioning that the Hong Kong government mentioned in this "Blueprint" that it cooperates with cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to develop a regional circular economy. The direction is correct. However, in addition to the exchanges and training mentioned in the "Blueprint", officials should be more active. Explore mutually beneficial business opportunities.
The Mainland and local universities began studying the construction waste sharing and trade market in the region two years ago. One example is the reduction of waste materials.
Whether it is environmental protection or other policies, combining local and local advantages and complementing each other will help society create greater benefits.
Nearly a waste paper siege, Hong Kong urgently needs a new environmental protection policy
Tuen Mun Recycling Paper Mill's Soup
Plastic tableware for national takeaways increases sharply, the Secretary's commitment to plastics has changed to "numbers"?
Viewpoint of Huang Jinxing 01, Environment Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency