Trash talk: new rubbish bins with smaller openings get cool reception in Hong Kong
In first phase of plan, about 800 bins will be replaced with new ones meant to combat dumping of oversized waste
The first batch of rubbish bins with smaller openings and bigger warning notices was introduced to the busier districts of Hong Kong on Monday morning.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department hopes these new bins will reduce the problem of people placing oversized rubbish in, around and on top of them. About 800 bins will be replaced in the first phase.
But people the Post spoke to on Monday around Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai and along Nathan Road were not particularly thrilled.
“It’s useless,” said Ah Sum, 68, who works as a refuse collector covering parts of Nathan Road with the new bins. “The smaller openings just mean people will throw their rubbish around the bin.”
Openings for standard 130-litre bins will be reduced from their current dimensions of 370 x 190mm to 230 x 150mm. Later this year the department will introduce 70-litre bins with openings reduced from 290 x 190mm to 205 x 130mm. A new 100-litre bin will also be trialled in select districts.
Ah Sum said stronger public education on proper waste disposal as well as a much higher penalty would be far more effective. “The new stickers saying six months of imprisonment [for illegal waste disposal] are useless. It should be [at least] five to 10 years.”
Just as the Post was speaking to the refuse collector, a man placed a cardboard box beside the bin though it was small enough to fit through the opening.
Alfred Tang, 29, who works in sales, noticed the size difference in the opening only after being told about it. After having a close look, he said: “It won’t affect me. I use those bins like the average [resident], for water bottles and tissues.”
Tang did not believe the new bins would be an inconvenience for those who disposed of their trash properly.
“It’s only harder for businesses who dump their waste there,” he said.
It won’t affect me. I use those bins like the average [resident], for water bottles and tissues.
At Bauhinia Square, the new bins were not as popular as the old ones.
A worker cleaning up the buses and streets did not even bother to empty his trash into the small opening of the new bin nearby, instead choosing to dispose of it in an uncovered bin at the square.
A tourist paused to read the signs on the new bin warning of a $1,500 fine for putting rubbish on top of it. He then chose to throw his scrap of paper into the other bin as well, saying it was “more accessible”.
There were about 40,000 receptacles across the city as of 2014, with most managed by the FEHD and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department made moves last year to reduce the number of bins in country parks and on hiking trails.
This figure is six times more than that in Singapore, 10 times more than in Seoul and 14 times more than in Taipei. Hong Kong generates more domestic waste per capita than all these cities.
The FEHD is also considering cutting down the number of bins on the streets after already reducing the number by 15 per cent, ahead of the government’s planned levy on municipal solid waste.
