Community Issues

Recycling Our Future

There's no doubt that easier and greater availability of recycling receptacles as well as early education are two ways to boost recycling rates and Sai Kung residents say that both are necessary.  But, Explore thinks that the corporate community should take some responsibility too.

 

Sai Kungers want to be responsible but….trying to feed the recycling bins in the centre of Sai Kung, says Mike R., requires you to park your car in a no-waiting area and hope that you don't get a ticket. He suggests bins in car parks or lay-bys would be more convenient. Another SK resident, Wendy, sees fellow villagers dumping recyclable rubbish in ordinary bins and wonders why all villages don't have these bins. Uk Tau villager, Christine, wants to recycle but, like a guest on the Explore Discussion Forum, gets frustrated driving around and around (being environmentally unfriendly) trying to find bins that are not full.  

 

Although the Sai Kung District Council recently organized a used electronics recovery program, it was not sufficiently publicized to attract many people. The rural nature of the district and limited resources restrict such programs, but the SKDC may be able to help with coordination or funding if you'd like to organize a public recycling event.

 

In Sai Kung, 60 housing estates, 41 primary and secondary schools and the University of Science and Technology (UST) are involved in the EPD's 3-colour bins for recycling paper, plastics and aluminum cans. While UST recycles printer cartridges, polystyrene, CDs and food waste, its catering outlets are encouraged to use biodegradable boxes.

Recycling - what you can do   Household items and clothing: Check charities such as Caritas, Christian Action, Crossroads, Oxfam, and St. James Settlement before you throw items out. Their needs vary over time, therefore call or check their websites first. The Christian Action branch in Sai Kung town square accepts clothes, shoes, bags, toys and small appliances Alternately – some household items that you no longer want could be just what another Sai Kung resident is looking for.  There’s a “free-cycle” board on the ESK discussion boards or post a “for sale” message and see if there’s a local buyer.  Cardboard and cans: Old folks often lurk around the village or Sai Kung town bins, hoping to find recyclables. These industrious people can get $500 - $800 per tonne of cardboard and $5,000 - $6,000 per tonne of aluminum cans.  Printer ink cartridges: The SPCA gets a small payment for used cartridges, so the animals will benefit if you drop yours off at the Sai Kung branch. Composting: Give your plants a shot in the arm. Throw vegetable, fruit and plant waste, and teabags, which rot quickly and provide nitrogen and moisture, into a small, lidded bucket. Cardboard egg boxes, crumpled paper and leaves rot slower, providing fiber, carbon and small air pockets. Crushed egg shells add useful minerals. Plastics, Aluminum & Paper: Through the EPD's separation of domestic waste at source scheme in housing estates and commercial buildings, plastic bags and mixed metal items are now being recycled. Click here for a list of names & contact phone numbers to tack to your bulletin board.

Although this is a good start, Explore's ears burned recently as one teacher told us how she worked diligently weeks to drum good recycling habits into her kids (they separated all recyclable lunch rubbish for two weeks).  She found, however, that their carefully separated recyclables were being chucked by the janitor into the ordinary rubbish bin.

 

Emptying of waste separation bins located in public places, leisure and cultural facilities and some schools is the responsibility of the FEHD while private companies collect recyclables directly from commercial, industrial and housing estate sources. Sai Kung's 19 private recyclers and 43 collectors collect everything from computer products to electronics, metals, plastics, rubber tires and waste paper. To find out if your business can use one of them, call the EPD hotline (2838 3111).

 

Public recycling bins, i.e. on the roadside and at refuse collection points (RCP), are the responsibility of the FEHD while those located in parks, leisure and cultural facilities belong to the LCSD. The 39 FEHD bins include villages such as Nam Wai, Pak Kong Au and Tseng Tau, and roadside locations such as Hong Shing Garden bus terminus and Silverstrand carpark. Among our 20 LCSD locations in Sai Kung are the Sai Kung swimming pool, Po Lam Sports Centre and Wai Man Road playground. Recycling bins are also located inside the Clearwater Bay and Sai Kung Country Parks and the Tsiu Hang Special Area.

 

If your recycling bins are overflowing, call the FEHD on 1823 (a 24 hr hotline). If your village doesn't have recycling bins, call 1823 and FEHD will arrange for someone to check the suitability of installing bins (space, population density, closeness to other bins). If you're living inside a country park, FEHD will need to coordinate with AFCD.

Green Power is initiating a school trial of reverse vending machines. These machines accept and crush plastic bottles and aluminum cans, compacting them for easier recycling and even issuing receipts according to the number and type of containers.

 

The GP initiative precedes the government's plan to launch a product responsibility scheme for drinks producers in 2008 (in which producers may be required to pay a deposit on their products and obtain a refund if the used containers were collected).

 

Explore calls on Park'n Shop and Wellcome supermarkets to take a lead in the community by investing in new technologies to encourage recycling. Sai Kung would be the ideal site for a trial reverse vending machines in a residential setting. Supermarkets are where the majority of them are situated in other parts of the world.  In doing so these companies could show that they are responsible corporate citizens and interested in the future of the communities in which they do business.

 

And if the government would also give incentives to the recycling industry, perhaps we wouldn't need to carve out a part of the country park to create a bigger landfill.

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