China News Service, Hong Kong, August 26 (Reporter Zeng Ping) The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passed the "Waste Disposal (Municipal Solid Waste Charges) (Amendment) Bill 2018" (Ordinance) on the 26th in the third reading to implement garbage charging.
The Ordinance establishes an 18-month preparation period, and the specific implementation date will be gazetted after the Legislative Council supports it.
According to the newly revised regulations, Hong Kong will implement garbage charging in two modes, namely charging by bag and charging by weight.
The former is applicable to most houses, buildings, ground shops, housing estates and public institution premises, etc. It accounts for about 80% of the municipal solid waste that is disposed of at landfills every day. The public must pack garbage in designated garbage bags or affix designated labels before disposing of garbage; The latter is mainly applicable to garbage disposed of in industrial and commercial premises.
Under the new rule, the designated garbage bag charge is set at 0.11 yuan per liter (HK$, the same below). If a three-person family uses the most commonly used 10 liter or 15 liter designated garbage bag every day, the monthly payment is 33 yuan or 51 yuan .
In order to take care of poor households, after the implementation of garbage collection, CSSA families will receive 10 yuan per person per month.
The SAR government will also successively make arrangements to collect classified food waste from the catering industry and transport it to recycling facilities for free.
The Secretary for the Environment of the Special Administrative Region Government, Huang Jinxing, described garbage charging as the "locomotive" for promoting waste reduction in the Legislative Council meeting. It not only helps to actively promote enterprises and the public to strengthen the practice of waste reduction and recycling. When the quality and quantity of recycled materials are improved, it is also beneficial to drive The sustainable development of recycling-related industries and the creation of green jobs.
He believes that the passage of the regulations marks a new milestone in Hong Kong's waste management work.
When meeting with the media after the passage of the regulations, Huang Jinxing said that the legislative implementation of waste charging is full of challenges, but reducing waste and carbon is the general trend, and it is also the work that must be done to deal with climate change.
The SAR government will make good use of the preparation period to encourage citizens to change their garbage disposal habits, strengthen supporting measures for garbage recycling, and do a good job in publicity and education.
He urged the industry and the public to work together to protect the environment and implement garbage charging.
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