Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan attended a food waste recycling promotion event at Ping Shek Estate in Kwun Tong today, marking the completion of the expansion of a food waste collection scheme that covers all public rental housing (PRH) estates in Hong Kong.

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) highlighted that its Food Waste Collection Scheme was accomplished two months ahead of the original target.

The EPD, in collaboration with the Housing Department and the Housing Society, launched the scheme in PRH estates in late October 2022, targeting to collect food waste by setting up food waste smart recycling bins (FWSRBs) in all of the 213 PRH estates in the city by the end of August this year.

It explained that it installed 740 FWSRBs covering all of the PRH estates as of the end of June, two months ahead of the target.

Mr Tse said that the current-term Government has made great efforts to boost the recycling facilities, especially the collection of domestic food waste which accounts for 30% of municipal solid waste.

“The expansion of the Food Waste Collection Scheme to all PRH estates across the city ahead of schedule fully demonstrates the Government's determination in promoting waste reduction and recycling."

The environment chief stated that the food waste collected from PRH estates will be delivered to food waste treatment facilities for conversion into electricity and compost, noting that the EPD will install FWSRBs in newly developed PRH estates and plans to provide additional ones with priority to PRH estates with higher quantities of collected food waste starting from the third quarter this year.

The EPD will also progressively increase the number of FWSRBs in other PRH estates to provide at least "one FWSRB per PRH block" within two years, he added.

Concurrently, the Government is supporting the installation of FWSRBs in private residential buildings and rural villages through the Recycling Fund and the Environment & Conservation Fund.

At the end of last year, the EPD collaborated with the Environmental Campaign Committee to roll out the Pilot Scheme on FWSRBs in Private Housing Estates, under which FWSRBs are provided for free to private housing estates with over 1,000 households.

The scheme will be expanded to cover private housing estates with fewer than 1,000 households, with details to be announced in the third quarter of this year.

To enable residents of single-block residential buildings or "three-nil buildings" to participate in food waste recycling in the coming year, the EPD will enhance various schemes for food waste collection in the domestic sector.

Such schemes include the setting up of 100 food waste recycling spots to provide night-time food waste collection services in the form of kerbside collection booths at fixed times and locations, and also establishing food waste recycling points at about 100 refuse collection points.

Additionally, apart from installing FWSRBs in four GREEN@COMMUNITY facilities in Sham Shui Po, Eastern District, Sai Kung and Sha Tin and at Lockhart Road Market, the EPD is preparing to expand it to GREEN@TUEN MUN by mid-July.