Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan today said GREEN@COMMUNITY will extend the operating hours of its facilities for three hours to 10pm on the 28th day of the last Lunar month to handle the possible increase in the amount of recyclables. 

Mr Tse told lawmakers that the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has already requested relevant GREEN@COMMUNITY operators to strengthen their manpower before the Lunar New Year.

Noting that the annual peak period of waste disposal always occurs before the Lunar New Year, the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) launched the annual year-end clean-up campaign across the city on January 16.

During the campaign, the FEHD will establish over 200 temporary refuse collection points across all districts for residents to discard oversized household waste, and increase the frequency of refuse and oversized waste collection in all districts.

As for the recycling of food waste, Mr Tse said smart food waste recycling bins will be installed at 100 public rental housing (PRH) estates before the Lunar New Year, covering over 710 building blocks, which accounts for about half of the PRH estates in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the environment chief anticipates approximately 100 smart food waste recycling bins will be installed at 30 private housing estates and three rural villages before the Lunar New Year.

He also noted that the EPD has recently noticed some waste bags purporting to be designated bags (DBs) have been put up for sale on a Mainland website. 

Mr Tse made it clear that upon investigation, the website was discovered to be an unauthorised retailer and its waste bags are not DBs as prescribed by the legislation and cannot be used as such, adding that the incident has been reported to Customs for follow-up.