The Government will introduce the Waste Disposal (Charging for Municipal Solid Waste) (Amendment) Bill 2018 into the Legislative Council on November 14 to implement Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) charging.

The bill proposes to adopt two charging modes based on the polluter-pays principle and the existing waste collection system.

The modes are “charging by designated garbage bags” and “charging by weight”.

Speaking to reporters today, Secretary for the Environment KS Wong said: “The implementation of MSW charging sits at the centre of our overall waste reduction strategy.

“It will provide the necessary financial incentive to drive behavioural changes and encourage various sectors of the community to practice waste reduction and clean recycling.”

He added that it is a challenging task to implement city-wide MSW charging and the Government has formulated a pragmatic strategy to implement it.

In Seoul and Taipei City, waste disposal dropped by about 30% in the initial period after quantity-based waste charging was introduced, Mr Wong added.

With the “charging by designated garbage bags” mode, citizens will have to buy garbage bags which have nine sizes from three to 100 litres. Each litre will be charged $0.11.

If the waste does not fit the designated garbage bags, people will have to buy an oversized waste label, which costs $11.

Oversized waste collected by private waste collectors will be charged based on the weight of waste disposed.

The bill will be gazetted on November 2 and introduced into LegCo for first and second readings on November 14.

The Government estimates MSW charging could be implemented as soon as end-2020.

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