HK's Garbage Levy: trash or treasure?

by Fong Ming (6C)

On 9th September 2021, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (香港特別行政區立法會) passed the Garbage Levy Policy (垃圾徵費計劃). Although the Legislative Council has passed the policy, we have to wait for at least 18 months (until June 2023) for it to be implemented by the Environmental Protection Department (環保署).

Pros

The aim for launching the garbage levy is in implementing the ‘Polluter Pays” principle. (污染者自付原則) The policy can reduce garbage produced by factories and homes because the “Pay-As-You-Dump” (按量收費) calculation method can ensure that people won’t dump a lot of garbage otherwise they will have to pay a lot of money. The cost of dumping garbage can also encourage people to recycle more.

Cons

Although the “Pay-As-You-Dump” calculation method can ensure that people won’t dump a lot of garbage in their bins, people may dump their garbage on streets, in toilets and in rivers. The garbage levy will also increase the financial burden of grassroots citizens. Garbage that can’t be collected into the rubbish bags will be fined $11.

My Opinion

The levy forces citizens to buy plastic bags from the government and it is may be inconvenient to buy the plastic bags. The plastic bags will also take over 500 years to decompose and are not environmentally-friendly. Some poor citizens will dump garbage inappropriately and this may cause hygiene issues. As a result, while I think this is a good idea, there may be more cons than pros right now.