Evaluation of the effectiveness of recycling fund in Hong Kong

Abstract

In 2016, Hong Kong had the lowest MSW recovery rate in consistent with the lowest total quantities and export value of recyclables during the past ten year period (2007-2016). It is increasingly recognized that relying on export of recyclables is not a sustainable waste management strategy and local recovery capacity needs to be developed. In order to promote the sustainable development of recycling industry, the $1 billion Recycling Fund was established in October 2015. However, there has not been any study that evaluate the effectiveness of Recycling Fund. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of Recycling Fund among commercial recyclers, in particular street-level shops, in Hong Kong by analysing the list of successful application and conducting a questionnaire. As at 31 March 2018, there were 131 approved projects from 104 companies with total approximate approval amount of $71M under the Enterprise Support Scheme of the Recycling Fund. Among the 104 successful companies, 77% had one approved project, 20% had two approved projects and 3% had three approved projects. Taken together, the analysis suggested that the Recycling Fund was not being fully utilized by the recycling industry. The questionnaire was conducted between February and May 2018. A total of 25 recycling companies located in various parts of Hong Kong were visited and 14 companies successfully completed the survey. The survey results showed that 4 surveyed companies applied the Recycling Fund and the major reason for not applying was that the funding scope was inappropriate, 9 surveyed companies would not apply the Recycling Fund in the coming year, majority of companies strongly disagree or disagree that the Recycling Fund can reduce disposal at landfill (11 out of 14), to promote markets for recycled products (10 out of 14). Although the Recycling Fund may facilitate the upgrade and expand the capacity of local recycling, the present study showed that it offers little practical assistance to the foundation of local recyclables collection i.e. the street recyclers. It is ineffective to relieve challenges facing street-level recyclers, or achieve the objectives to promote recycled product or reduce landfill volume. Recommendations were given for the improvement of Recycling Fund. It is important that there is a modification of funding scope and cap of the scheme Small-scale Standard Project $150K.