A Symposium on Food Rescue and Recycling Food Waste A Way to Teach Private Businesses to Exempt Garbage Levy

The Municipal Solid Waste Charging Bill was passed by the Legislative Council at the end of last month. Under the polluter pays principle, the more waste produced, the higher the garbage charge will be supported. A group held a symposium today with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, recycling food companies, and fruits and vegetables. Merchants shared their waste reduction experience. Some participants pointed out that relying solely on regional organizations to recycle food waste is not enough, but also relying on environmental ambassadors to make up for each other. Among them, the non-staple food market in the Western District is the most effective, and the Environmental Protection Department pointed out that the percentage of food waste produced by industrial and commercial enterprises If the relevant levy is implemented, merchants will be encouraged to respond to food waste recycling in the future, and the relevant fees will be exempted.

Invite food recycling companies, businesses and officials to attend

The Hong Kong Playground Association today (4th) held a symposium on "Regional Food Rescue Challenges and Prospects, Building a Community Leftover Food Utilization System" in Mong Kok to discuss how to facilitate commercial surplus food donations, the establishment of a "Community Leftover Food Utilization Network" and urban solids Views after the implementation of the waste levy bill.

Yuan Jianqing, director of the Hong Kong Vegetable Wholesalers Association, which has been engaged in fruit and vegetable wholesale for more than 40 years, said that with his many years of experience in the West Side non-staple food market, the current retail vegetable stalls have basically achieved few surplus leftover vegetables. The fruit and vegetable stalls that the food recycling companies cooperate with are all wholesale to the merchants of restaurants such as hotels, restaurants, etc. They have to process them for customers, and batch away the unsightly vegetable leaves. The remaining rotten vegetable and rotten leaves will be handed over to the environmental protection group for recycling The Chamber of Commerce has also mobilized members to support various aspects of environmental recycling.

Every Mid-Autumn Festival, a large number of moon cakes are abandoned

Yuan Dezhi, the project manager of Food Ethics, pointed out that as a food recycling company, as more people get to know it, more and more food will be recycled, but the most important thing is to reduce waste at the source in order to reduce waste. He said with the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival For example, moon cakes are reduced to commercial customers and private gifts. "Many moon cakes are not for human consumption." The company also recycles moon cakes, but no matter how much it is recycled, it is not enough to strengthen education and publicity among the public, business and schools, and abandon the gift-giving culture. In addition, after the implementation of municipal solid waste charging measures, the user pays principle is used to promote commercial companies to reduce purchases, thereby achieving the effect of reducing food waste.

Participants said that at least two NGOs have cooperated with merchants in the West District non-staple food market to recycle food, but the scale is limited and only two hours a day can be set aside to recycle discarded fruits and vegetables. Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Department has set up waste reduction and recycling in the market. The environmental ambassador (food waste) works around the clock for 8 hours a day, in disguised form that allows the three to cooperate with each other to make up for their seats, avoiding food waste being sent to the landfills to increase the load. It is worthy of imitation by other public markets or Yau Ma Tei fruit stalls and other hard-hit areas.

Need to consider the perspective of merchants who donate food

Ouyang Baozhen, chairman of the Shared Food Fund, said that if you want to encourage businesses to donate more food or fruits and vegetables, you must first start from the perspective of not competing with the people for profit. If the vegetable stalls donate vegetables, the recycling company will immediately distribute them to the people in the area. , It will naturally reduce consumption in the district, which is like harming the interests of vendors. Therefore, "recycling in the district should not be distributed in the district" in order to grow and grow.

Deng Qingjia, Senior Environmental Protection Officer of the Environmental Protection Department, said that after the Legislative Council passed the "Waste Disposal (Municipal Solid Waste Charges) (Amendment) Bill 2018" at the end of last month, merchants and citizens will have an 18-month "adaptation period", even if the Implement measures. As long as merchants are willing to actively donate leftover food to recycling companies or purple food waste recycling bins established by the government, the weight of the relevant leftover food will not be included in the garbage levy, and the public intends to collect food waste from the private sector. Housing estates or corporations can also apply for funding through the Environmental Protection Fund to subsidize housing estates to install on-site food waste composting equipment.

Food waste bins cause mosquitoes?

Adding one magic weapon means that the actual measurement is 100% effective. The Encyclopedia of Life survey stated that nearly half of the interviewees did not know that Tung Chung would build a temporary market group to promote the implementation of the public consultation circle to support the regulation of disposable plastic tableware and advocate the government to promote environmentally friendly product certification. Plastic

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