To reduce waste and promote waste recovery, the Government is considering product responsibility schemes for items like tyres, rechargeable batteries, appliances and beverage containers.

Secretary for Environment, Transport & Works Dr Sarah Liao told legislators today that under the schemes, producers, importers, retailers and consumers will be required to share the responsibility for properly managing their products at the post-consumption stage.

The Government will carefully assess the costs and benefits of different options for such schemes and their impact on stakeholders. Dr Liao said the views of all sectors will be considered.

Recycling works

On waste tyre recycling, Dr Liao said the pilot scheme launched last year has helped reduce the landfill space required for tyre disposal and saved money on processing them.

"From April 2003 to November 2004, a total of 4,600 tonnes of waste tyres, which would have been disposed of in landfills, were recovered and turned into useful materials, thereby saving the costs of transporting the tyres to landfills and the landfill space used."

In the light of the experience gained from the pilot scheme, the Environmental Protection Department will invite tenders for a longer-term contract in April to identify more ways to recycle waste tyres and further promote the tyre recycling industry.

Dr Liao said the response to the one-year wet-and-dry garbage sorting pilot scheme at four housing estates in Eastern District was good. However, the cost was high, hindering its promotion.

Source separation programme to be expanded

The department has improved the scheme of recovering domestic waste and last August launched the Pilot Programme on Source Separation of Waste in 13 housing estates in Eastern.

The objectives are to assist residents in separating waste at the source by providing waste separation facilities on each floor of a building, and to broaden the types of recyclables to be recovered to further increase the recovery rate and reduce waste.

In view of the positive results of the pilot programme, the Government is planning to expand its scope and conduct a large-scale publicity campaign early next year to encourage people to separate waste at home for recycling.

Dr Liao said the council is scrutinising two regulations in the waste disposal charging scheme that stipulate the operational details of the construction waste scheme.

"Subject to the passage of these regulations by LegCo, the charging scheme is expected to be implemented in summer 2005."

Domestic waste charging more complicated

Noting that a charging scheme for domestic waste will be more complicated and will have a wider effect on the community, Dr Liao said the operational arrangements and charging methods of such a scheme will require careful study.