Food waste management in Hong Kong

Abstract

In Hong Kong, around 3,600 tonnes of food waste is produced every day. Although different pilot schemes and programmes had been operated by government and organizations, most of them were more like demonstrations on different methods in treating food waste. Up to this stage, no concrete facilities and long-term schemes have been carried out by the government to tackle the food waste generated. In this study, different approaches to treat food waste have been explored and relevant practices in Hong Kong have been investigated. In order to obtain the first hand information from the local situation, 250, 11 and four sets of questionnaires were distributed to the general public, catering sectors and green groups and other NGOs respectively. The relationship between the knowledge and attitude of food waste management and demographics characteristics of the participants were studied. Apart from questionnaires, four interviews with green groups and NGO were conducted. The results showed that all three sectors support implementation of food waste management, and were not satisfied with the current status of food waste management in Hong Kong. Both the general public and the catering sector found “converting food waste to renewable energy” the most suitable practice for food waste management in Hong Kong, while “food waste charging scheme” gain most of the support from the green groups and NGOs. Recommendations were made according to the results of the questionnaires, interviews and literature reviews on successful overseas case studies.