The Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said the government's plan to reduce waste in Hong Kong remains unchanged despite the shelving of the waste charging scheme, adding that raising public awareness and increasing recycling facilities instead has achieved great results. The government announced earlier this year that they would not implement the citywide waste charging scheme in August as originally planned, but the environment chief said at a press conference on Saturday that good recycling and waste management practice has increased immensely. He said that the total amount of recycling has increased by more than half in the past six months. "We saw when we were advertising the waste scheme that even though public opinion was to postpone it, people were very supportive of waste reduction and recycling practices. So we are now seizing the opportunity by enhancing recycling facilities and strengthening public education to promote a good waste reduction and recycling culture in society," he said. "We will also study how to optimise the waste charging scheme so that people can be more adaptable and accepting of waste reduction and recycling measures when implemented in the future." Tse said that they will optimise a plan and share their progress with the Legislative Council in the middle of next year.
