2018-06-29

“ECF SAY NO to ‘Disposables’ – Less Disposables to Reduce Waste” Visiting Waste Management Facilities

Visiting Sha Tin Transfer Station & Sha Tin Community Green Station

To step up the project “ECF SAY NO to ‘Disposables’ – Less Disposables to Reduce Waste”, Green Sense had just organized a public education activity on 16th June: Visiting Sha Tin Transfer Station & Sha Tin Community Green Station (Sha Tin CGS).

Make a guess, where would our domestic trash be delivered to? Landfills? Correct! However, is it true that all trash would be directly transported to the landfills by the refuse collection vehicles (RCVs)? Imagine if all the RCVs directly carry the garbage from the homes to the landfills every day, the traffic flow on the roads and highways would have become very heavy!

In fact, the majority of RCVs in Hong Kong dispose waste at the nearby refuse transfer stations (RTSs) where the waste would be compacted and containerized in sealed containers for onward transportation to the landfills. The carrying capacity of one single waste transfer truck approximately equals to that of a total of five RCVs. The method has greatly reduced the traffic load as well as the environmental nuisance to the residents. Sha Tin RTS, where the site visit took place, operates all year round and its waste throughput is enormous, treating waste of about 1,200 tonnes from Sha Tin and Sai Kung districts every day.

During rush hours, waste piled up like several knolls on the unloading bay, which was difficult for the machines and the staff to handle. Take a closer look, various recyclable materials were mixed, for example, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, newspaper, etc. As a matter of fact, the amount of waste could be drastically reduced by proper recycling and waste minimization.

Let’s move on to recycling. What should we do with a plastic bottle before putting it into a recycling bin? For effective recycling, the second site – Sha Tin CGS taught us three steps: Take off the lids, peel off the labels and wash the bottles! Nevertheless, the best way is to “Refuse”, say ‘NO’ to disposable plastics!

Visiting EcoPark & Green Point on 29/7

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As an encouraging response has been received, we are pleased to announce that the next visit is coming in July! We are going to visit the EcoPark in Tuen Mun where it plays an important role in municipal solid waste management in Hong Kong. In addition, we would have an experiential learning workshop on waste sorting in Green Point, a community recycling centre in Tai Kok Tsui. We are looking forward to seeing you and let us rethink the concepts of ‘Reduce’, ‘Reuse’ and ‘Recycle’! The enrollment is on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

Event Enrollment: https://goo.gl/Y35V8Y 

More about “ECF SAY NO to ‘Disposables’ – Less Disposables to Reduce Waste”: http://greensense.org.hk/no1off

 

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