Dear Editor,
It makes me blue to know that Hong Kong is one of the most wasteful cities in the world. As compared with Japan or Taiwan, the local waste disposal policy is far too short-sighted and ineffective. Worse still, according to a recent survey, Hong Kong people are not just wasteful, but are reluctant to change their habit. It is indeed alarming to see there are citizens who would like to enjoy a better living environment while refusing to bear the responsibility for waste reduction. Let’s not forget that we reap what we sow. We need both courage and determination to make Hong Kong a greener and healthier place to live in.
Every day 1.28 kilogrammes of household rubbish is produced by every resident. One can imagine what an outrageous amount of refuse is sent to the landfills every day. The waste is mainly composed of food residue, packaging materials of products and recyclable items like aluminium cans and paper. Yes, recycling bins, people still find the round, fat purple trash bins more appealing. And for food, most citizens now feel tepid when they dump the uneaten food straight to the bin without noticing how precious food is. Food is no treasure, for those who have never experienced the unbearable feeling of starvation during World War II. This explains why it is said that the new generation is the major culprit of the problem, pushing a record-high amount of refuse to landfills every year.
Now the landfills are reaching the saturation point. In a few years’ time, we will need either new landfill areas or incinerators to treat the excessively large amount of refuse. The Environmental Protection Department should shoulder the responsibility to seek new methods to alleviate the waste disposal problem. As we all know, neither landfills nor incinerators are environmentally-friendly. Therefore, the government is not choosing a better, but a less worse option from the two. In this regard, incineration would be the more favourable alternative. Japan has set a good example on power generation by waste incineration. Incineration is ‘better’ than landfills because squeezing out the last tiny bit of energy from the refuse gives us at least certain return, but burying everything simply does nothing good at all. Someone may argue incineration creates extra burden to the air quality, but the fact is that the overall situation will not be worsened since other power plants could reduce the output and thus the amount of air pollutatnts.
‘Reduce’, ‘reuse’ and ‘recycle’ are the rules of thumb in waste reduction. The government has long promoted the 3Rs principle but the effect is not satisfactory. It is questionable whether further education campaigns should be held to raise public awareness. However, legislation has been proved effective. Take a look at the supermarkets. With the introduction of plastic bag levy, most citizens have got into the habit of ‘BYOB’. The use of plastic bags has declined drastically although the deterrent effect of the fifty-cent charge is not high. Following the same reasoning, perhaps Hong Kongers can be made more environmentally-friendly by more legislation though it sounds rather frustrating. The government could look into the possibility of a refuse tax, or a cash reward for recycling. I am quite confident that people will be more keen on recycling if they find it profitable. What Hong Kongers need is not just education, but a driving force encouraging them to go green. This might not be an elegant way but at least it would be a practical way to make Hong Kong a greener place. I hope the government can consider the above measures carefully.
All in all, Hong Kong is the place where we and our offspring live. Everyone is responsible for establishing a green city which provides us with a healthier and safer environment to enjoy lives. I hope that every citizen will soon realize this point and shoulder the responsibility with courage and determination.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Wong