Hong Kong faces a significant challenge with municipal solid waste, and food waste makes up a whopping 30% of it, with around 3,400 tonnes discarded daily into landfills back in 2021. But the city is actively fighting back! The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is pushing forward with a multi-pronged strategy to reduce, collect, and recycle food waste, aiming for the goals set out in the “Waste Blueprint for Hong Kong 2035”.
How are we reducing and collecting food waste?
The EPD’s efforts start with prevention. The “Food Wise Hong Kong Campaign” encourages everyone to reduce waste at the source through initiatives like the “Food Wise Charter” and promoting food donation. Since its launch, per capita domestic food waste disposal has already decreased by 14%!
For unavoidable food waste, collection is key. The large-scale Food Waste Collection Pilot Scheme is now fully operational across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the New Territories, and the Outlying Islands. Despite pandemic setbacks, it’s already collecting over 150 tonnes of commercial and industrial food waste daily from more than 450 premises, including markets, cooked food centres, hotels, and food factories.
A major focus is on household food waste, which constitutes about 70% of all landfilled food waste. The Public Housing Estates Food Waste Collection Trial Scheme launched in October 2022 uses smart recycling bins with anti-overflow and deodorizing features. Residents are incentivized through the “Food Wise” E-integration Scheme (“綠綠賞”). Starting with 5 estates (34 blocks), it expanded in March 2023 to include 4 more (32 blocks), with a goal of 100 blocks by 2023-24. Initial participation is promising, with around 40% of households in the first estates using the bins within the first three months.
A HK$100 million funding scheme under the Recycling Fund also supports the installation of smart food waste recycling bins in private housing estates. So far, 28 projects covering around 150,000 residents have been approved.
Collecting from the estimated 17,000 restaurants scattered across the city is tricky. Pilot schemes are testing cost-effective methods, like using refuse collection points in areas like Wan Chai and Sham Shui Po, and setting up dedicated collection points in Tai Po and Yuen Long. Over 50 restaurants have participated, collecting around 14 tonnes so far.
To improve efficiency, the EPD is trialling on-site food waste pre-treatment facilities at larger or remote sources (e.g., wholesale markets). This process removes impurities, creates a slurry stored in sealed tanks, reduces collection frequency, and cuts downstream processing costs.
How are we processing all this collected waste?
This is where the magic happens – turning waste into energy and resources!
O·PARK1 on Lantau has been operational since 2018, processing 200 tonnes per day.
The exciting development is O·PARK2 in the North District, which is under construction and scheduled to begin operations in 2024. It will use anaerobic digestion to process 300 tonnes of food waste daily, generating enough electricity for its own needs and exporting about 24 million kWh annually to the grid – enough for 5,000 households! It will also produce compost and is designed to achieve carbon neutrality during construction. It’s won awards for its eco-design.
Furthermore, the EPD is expanding the use of co-digestion technology at sewage treatment plants. The Tai Po plant’s facility will be expanded to eventually handle 500 tonnes per day, and a trial at the Sha Tin plant (50 tpd) will begin this year. A trial is also underway to send 10 tonnes of animal waste daily to O·PARK1 or sewage works for treatment via anaerobic digestion.
Looking ahead, the aim is to have a total treatment capacity of over 1,500 tonnes per day by the mid-2030s, considered sufficient to handle all collectable food waste in Hong Kong.
With the municipal solid waste charging scheme coming soon, coupled with these expanding collection and treatment networks, Hong Kong is steadily building the infrastructure needed to reduce landfill reliance and create a more sustainable, circular economy for food waste.
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