Hong Kong needs ‘more aggressive’ recycling targets for drinks cartons

Hong Kong lawmakers have urged authorities to set more aggressive targets for a proposed scheme requiring drink suppliers to recycle containers, after the government floated an initial carton recovery rate of 10 per cent.

The government said on Monday that it would need a year to legislate the proposal and another to let the relevant parties prepare, while each of the scheme’s four phases was expected to take about one year to implement. The timeline could be sped up or slowed down depending on the policy’s progress, it added.

The Environment and Ecology Bureau unveiled the proposal last week but faced criticism over its lack of a clear timeline.

The scheme will require drink suppliers to either arrange self-recovery or engage registered operators to meet recycling targets for beverage containers with volumes ranging from 100ml to two litres.

The required recovery rate for plastic containers would start at 30 per cent and gradually increase to 75 per cent over the four phases of the scheme.

The rate for drinks cartons would start at 10 per cent and later reach 50 per cent.