About the Programme

According to the "Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong 2016” released by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), in that year Hong Kong generated around 10,345 tonnes of municipalsolid waste (MSW)every day. Among the quantity of MSW disposal, over 30% was recyclable food waste,and plastics and paper each accounted for an additional 20%. The landfills will soon be exhausted with the continuous large amount of waste disposed daily. Plastic waste is also polluting our oceans and the food chain. The government has introduced the MSW Charging Scheme which can create financial incentive to drive behavioural changes in waste generation thus reducing the overall amount of waste required for disposal. In order to prepare the public for the approaching scheme, FoE (HK) launched the Environmental and Conservation Fund-sponsored ‘Municipal Solid Waste Audit and Waste Reduction at School’ scheme in October 2018.The project will strengthen the understanding on the importance of waste reduction at source among teachers and students through simulation of a small community and various activities, and at the same time raise their awareness of the MSW Charging Scheme. 

With participation of eight local primary schools, the name of participate schools as below,

Kowloon Tong School (Primary Section) 

C.C.C. Chun Kwong Primary School 

Chinese Methodist School, Tanner Hill 

Shek Lei St. John's Catholic Primary School 

Ying Wa Primary School 

Xianggang Putonghua Yanxishe Pri. Sch. of Science and Creativity 

S.K.H. Holy Cross Primary School S.K.H. 

Yautong Kei Hin Primary School

The scheme aims to engage students in understanding the waste problem in their schools by auditing the waste and recyclables generated. The scheme also targets promotion of waste reduction, reuse and recycling, while helping schools to prepare for the MSW Charging Scheme. This programme aims at reducing the amount of waste in participating schools by 5%, while recycling right and clean, with elimination of recyclable plastic and paper from disposable waste.

The programme includes events such as waste audits and recyclables assessments, student ambassador training, school talks, waste reduction contests, and the issuing of mock monthly solid waste charging bills to schools according to the amount of waste produced.

The ECF- sponsored ‘Municipal Solid Waste Audit and Waste Reduction at School’ scheme in eight school is successful ended by July. According to the audit results, the average waste reduction from December 2018 to March 2019 by the eight schools is 13%, which is higher than the 5% target. Although the programme is at its final stage, we hope all participants will remember and spread the green living message of reducing waste at source and clean recycling.