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Public overlooks the WEEE Recycling Day |
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Written by RUBY TAM YU-PIK
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 |
The government announced a waste recovery scheme success on 30 January 2008, but some complain that the government is not doing enough in recycling.
The Environment Protection Department (EPD) started launching recycling programmes since 2002 and Secretary for Transport & Housing Eva Cheng announced the monthly average volume of plastic bottles recovered in the Source Separation on Domestic Waste Programme surged by 45.6 percent.
Waste Electrons and Electrical Equipment Recycling Day (WEEE Recycling Day) is an annual event launched by the EPD to collect used electrical appliances donated by the public for recycling or refurbishment, but some said that there was not enough publicity.
“I appreciate the government holding a recycling campaign like this kind but it does not have sufficient publicity because some people come around and just realized that there is a recycling day…if they know about it, they should have come with their used electrical products.” said Wong Chun-yau, the Tai Po station manager on the WEEE Recycling Day.
A couple who donated eight pieces said that they knew about the event from the university’s email but they agreed that the event was not gaining enough publicity, at least they didn’t see any television commercials.
According to the EPD, they started promoting the campaign five months before the event by inviting housing estates and voluntary organizations to set up collection points for their residents and the general public.
They also started intensive promotion two weeks before the event through a designated webpage and advertisements on newspapers, TV and radio.
Wong added that holding the campaign once a year is not enough to digest the need for this kind of recycling [the recycling of electrical products and electrons] and she wishes that this campaign can become a year’s spotlight in the near future.
EPD Senior Information Officer Felix Leung said that they would review the feedback on this year's event to see if there are areas that need further improvement.
The WEEE Recycling Day was first held in late 2005 and was a one-day event with only 190 participating housing estates and public collection points in eight districts, but this year the event was expanded to two days with 400 participating housing estates and public collection network covering 18 districts.
“I believe that if the campaign is held in open area, like a park in the middle of the estate, would catch more attention to the event. But I understand that finding enough volunteers and a big area to store these big chunks is a difficult job,” said Wong who is also the chairperson of a volunteer group from the New Territories Association of Societies.
St. James Settlement started recycling electrical appliances earlier than the EPD in 2001. but their program named “Donation of Electric Appliance to the Elderly”, focuses on the elderly rather than the environment.
“Our most urgent mission at the moment is to find a place to store the collected donations as we are only having a 300-feet apartment in Kowloon,” said Chan Ping-lun, the founder of the Elderly Program.
“We hope to meet the needs of elderly from the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories and Outlying Islands and that our office is situated in Wan Chai District in Hong Kong Island. We need a place for temporary storage and check the electric appliances in the Hong Kong Island.”
Chan said that they sought help from the Leasing Department of the Housing Society to look for a vacant storeroom, but they were either rejected or being referred to other places by reasons like the places are fire escapes or not suitable for renting.
“At last, they promised to rent us a vacant storeroom and the size of the room needed to be reduced by reconstruction. But they required us to pay for the reconstruction costs without offering us any help. They preferred letting the vacant unit be continued vacated.”
But according to the government’s land allocation policy, seven lots were allocated since 1998 to recyclers of waste paper, metal, plastics, and rubber tyres under short tenancy arrangements.
The founder said they only took in equipments used for not more than five years because St. James does not have sufficient space for storage.
“As we are self-financed, we have to find volunteers to help us do the repairing job but it’s very difficult to find. I would say that the cost of finding man forces is much higher than buying new machines for the elderly.”
Chan added that they insisted running the program because they believed that they the not only sending them appliances but also love and respect.
Edited by PHOEBE CHAN CHO-YAN
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 April 2008 )
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