The Environmental Protection Department takes care of all matters concerning the waste created by Hong Kong. As stated in the Hong Kong 2020 Waste Statistics, 72% of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) are disposed in landfills while only 28% is being recycled. Plastics top the list of recyclable materials recovered. This, however, increased by 32% compared to the previous year. The total quantity of items recycled in 2020 is 1.54 million tons.
With regards to the items disposed of at landfills, food waste is on top of the list with 30%. Next is paper which is 24%. Afterwards is plastic, which covers21% of the items disposed in landfills. Lastly, the last 4% are glass and metals. The total quantity of waste disposed in landfills in 2020 is 3.96 million tons.
Recycling in Hong Kong
Unfortunately, most of the items recycled are delivered outside of Hong Kong. In addition to this, only 20% of the total number is being recycled locally. On the brighter note, the total number of items recycled increased by 11% compared to the previous year. This denotes that the efforts of Hong Kong in community recycling and waste reduction have shown a significant difference to the overall outcome.
With this, more effort will be congruent to a brighter and more sustainable future. By putting more effort in other industries, such as reducing the school carbon footprint and more aggressive action from the private sector, this will create a brighter future for Hong Kong.
In totality, the efforts of the government have paid off. However, more effort is needed to ensure that the world will not succumb to the side effects of climate change and environmental degradation. With this, everyone must work together in order to have a more sustainable living.
Being aware is one thing, but taking action is on a whole new level.