Waste Reduction and Recycling

Second Cycle of GDE –
Phase 6 to 11 (2012-2018)

The second cycle of GDE was completed in 2018. Partnered with the Business Environment Council, Friends of the Earth (HK) and the Conservancy Association, a total of 176 PRH estates were covered. Highlights of the programme are as follows:

GDE Phase 11
(October 2017 – October 2018)

"Green Junior's Academy on Waste Reduction" is the theme of this year's GDE Phase 11 community environmental education programme. The highlighted programme, "Finding Green Junior", has been commenced since December 2017. Mascot Green Junior has taken a proactive role in engaging residents in waste reduction and recycling messages through year-round activities such as greeting residents of PRH estates and teaching fans on proper and clean recycling. These activities aim at raising residents' awareness of waste reduction and recycling as well as encouraging them to reduce and save resources in their daily lives.

The slogan competition was launched in June 2018 and the result was announced in August 2018. The champion of the Open Group is “回收常減廢 環保免徵費 消費肯節制 惜食顯智慧” and the Junior Group is “減廢回收無難度 綠色屋邨我締造”. A total of 2,647 volunteers have been recruited as Green Estate Ambassadors in Phase 11 GDE programme.

GDE Phase 10
(September 2016- September 2017)

We continued to adopt "Reduction of Municipal Solid Waste" as the overall theme in GDE Phase 10. "Household Waste Audit" was the highlighted campaign for all public housing estates. It aimed to encourage residents to review their household waste by category as well as by quantity and to reduce their household waste by adopting various green measures. We also extended our educational programme to selected commercial centres to promote waste reduction including food waste.

GDE Phase 9
(September 2015 - September 2016)

"Rehome & Reuse Resources" was the theme of GDE Phase 9 community environmental education programme, which was kicked started on 9 October 2015. We continued to adopt "Reduction of Municipal Solid Waste" as the overall theme to echo the Government's current policy and organised a "Rehome and Reuse of Resources" campaign to encourage residents to share their excessive but useful materials. Green groups continue to promote plastic beverage bottle recycling, and waste separation at source in our estates.

Environmental educational programmes including a design competition on “Rehome & Reuse Resources” sharing box graphics was held in June and July 2016. A total of 253 submissions were received. The winning design has been selected and the prize presentation ceremony was held on 7 October 2016. Green living carnivals, second-hand barter markets, upcycling and eco-detergent workshop, eco-tours and talks have been organised for PRH residents in 36 selected estates. Around 2,000 volunteers were recruited as Green Estate Ambassadors under Phase 9 to help launch these activities to promote waste reduction.

GDE Phase 8
(August 2014 - August 2015)

In 2014/15, we continued with the theme of “Reduction of Municipal Solid Waste” for GDE Phase 8. Environmental educational programmes including "All About Waste" campaign, photo competition, green living carnivals, second-hand barter markets, upcycling and eco-detergent workshop, home gardening promotion days, talks and site visits have been organised for PRH residents. Around 3,500 volunteers were recruited as Green Estate Ambassadors to help launch these activities to promote waste reduction. To identify improvement areas of the GDE programme, we have appointed the Chinese University of Hong Kong to conduct resident surveys on the environmental awareness of PRH tenants to gauge the effectiveness of these activities.

Waste reduction messages have been propagated through various means such as photo competition, mascot design competition, “All About Waste” quiz competition, programme website, educational posters and professionals’ sharing workshops. Apart from our ongoing activities, we have held a new series of Second-hand Goods Barter Market in February 2015. Three Barter Markets were organised in Tai Wo Hau Estate, Choi Wan (I) Estate and Tsz Ching Estate with around 1,800 residents participated and 3,200 second-hand goods such as surplus clothes, toys, household goods and books exchanged.

GDE Phase 7
(June 2013 - July 2014)

The kick-off ceremony of the GDE Phase 7 was held in August 2013. GDE Phase 7 continued to adopt "Reduction of Municipal Solid Waste" as its overall theme to echo with the government's environmental policy. In-depth educational programmes with emphasis on food waste reduction, together with educational and promotional activities, were organised. Food waste recycling was extended to more estates while glass bottle recycling was further promoted in estates during this phase.

Reducing Food Waste Campaign

To advocate eating light and food waste reduction, a range of initiatives were introduced under GDE Phase 7. An estate-wide campaign, "Empty Your Plate Campaign", was launched from 30 September to 20 October 2014 to encourage residents to reduce food waste. The participants pledged themselves to "Zero Food Waste" by ordering and preparing meals appropriately, so as to empty their plates upon finishing each meal. An "Eat Light, Eat Right" Poll was organised from March to April 2014 to promote green tips on food preparation through posters, pamphlets and website. A two-minute video named "Go Green. Eat Light. So Easy!" was produced and broadcast at Housing Channel from August to October 2014.

In-depth Educational Activities

In-depth educational programmes were conducted in 30 selected estates. A variety of promotional activities including fun days, talks, workshops and educational visits were organised. A total of around 2,600 Green Estate Ambassadors were recruited and trained under GDE Phase 7.

Recycling Programme

Following GDE Phase 6, our two-year food waste recycling trial programme was extended to 14 estates under GDE Phase 7. Off-site food waste recycling for conversion into fish feed was adopted in Lai Kok, Tin Wah, Tin Tsz, Nam Shan, Ching Ho, Grandeur Terrace, Lai On, On Yam, Sun Chui, Lei Muk Shue, Kai Tin, Tin Ching and Tsz Ching Estates. On-site food waste recycling using micro-organism was adopted in Lam Tin Estate. In addition, another round of glass bottle recycling was launched in ten other estates. Workshops were held to educate residents in creating art and decor from waste bottles. The remaining bottles were delivered to a glass recycler making paver blocks.

GDE Phase 6
(June 2012 - June 2013)

Riding on the success of the first cycle, a new phase of the GDE programme with new activities and themes was launched in June 2012 to continue our environmental works in PRH estates. In line with the government's latest environmental initiatives, the theme for Phase 6 of the GDE is "Reduction of Municipal Solid Waste". An estate-wide campaign to promote green messages on saving food as well as a series of in-depth educational and promotional programmes on food waste reduction in selected estates have been organised. Food waste recycling and glass bottle recycling programmes were carried out in selected estates during this phase.

Reducing Food Waste Campaign

In order to promote the message on saving food, we conducted an estate-wide programme, "Cherish Food with Rewards" Campaign, in all HA PRH estates from 15 October 2012 to 4 November 2012. Tips on reducing food wastage were promoted through posters and website. Residents were encouraged to make pledges on saving food.

A "Food Waste has Value" Green Recipe Competition was held from 18 February to 17 March 2013 to solicit smart cooking recipes from residents on reducing food wastage. Around 100 participants including the competition winners and their families, representatives from HA and green groups participated in the final judging and award ceremony held in May 2013. The Secretary for Transport and Housing, together with the Secretary for the Environment, shared their food saving tips with the participants. They had also demonstrated how to cook spring rolls from left-over cooked ingredients of Chinese soup.

Food Waste Recycling in Estates

Food waste recycling was carried out in six selected estates in 2012/13. On-site food waste recycling for compost using micro-organism has been conducted in Lam Tin Estate since December 2012. Off-site food waste recycling was commenced in November 2012 for Lai Kok Estate, Tin Wah Estate and Tin Tsz Estate, and in December 2012 for Nam Shan Estate and Ching Ho Estate. Food waste was transported to a centralised food waste recycler in Yuen Long for conversion mainly into fish feed. As at the end of March 2013, 875 households have registered to participate in the scheme.

Regarding the food waste collection process, either a self-help mode or "Bucket Exchange" mode was adopted in the six estates. Tin Wah Estate, Tin Tsz Estate and Nam Shan Estate adopted the self-help mode whereby the residents put their food waste directly into large bins for collection by the food waste recycler. For Lai Kok Estate, Ching Ho Estate and Lam Tin Estate, "Bucket Exchange" mode was adopted whereby the residents brought their buckets of food waste to the ground floor of each block to exchange for clean buckets from the security guards.