Recycling Fund Continues to Support Recycling Industry to Cope with Mainland's Solid Waste Import Requirements

The following is issued on behalf of the Recycling Fund:

Recycling Fund Continues to Support Recycling Industry to Cope with Mainland's Solid Waste Import Requirements

Since the General Office of the State Council announced an action plan to reform the Mainland's solid waste import policy in July this year, the Advisory Committee on Recycling Fund (RFAC) has closely communicated with the local recycling trade to gauge its views, conducted research and timely introduced new schemes to help recyclers address this new challenge. In early September RFAC has announced new initiatives to enhance support to the industry to upgrade operation.

To this end, RFAC has endeavored to assist the development of the local recycled product industry. In addition to streamlining application procedures, it has introduced innovative support measures and extended the project scope, enabling the Recycling Fund to provide more effective support to the industry. RFAC has recently agreed to implement a new round of support measures which were presented to representatives from the recycling industry at a meeting today (3 November 2017). Participants also discussed the means to address the Mainland's tightening requirements of solid waste imports.

Since September this year, the Recycling Fund has introduced the following measures to support the industry, including:

• Earmarked $20 million for the launch of a new category of Small-scale Standard Projects scheme with a $1 million funding ceiling for each application. It aims to upgrade the capability of local recyclers in processing recyclables (in particular, waste paper and plastics), to fulfil the Mainland's new import requirement. Applicants can apply for funding support, through simplified procedures, on procurement of related equipment, including plastics sorter, label and cap remover, washer, dryer, and pelletizer, PET yarn machine, Hot-melting machine and air filtering equipment for processing expanded polystyrene, etc;
• To provide more timely support to recyclers, applicants in the above-mentioned Small-scale Standard Projects can start the purchase of the equipment one day after the submission of the application to the Secretariat of the Recycling Fund (i.e. before the application has been vetted by RFAC);
• Earmarked $50 million to encourage recyclers to use compactor trucks to enhance operation efficiency and to address the problem of high transportation costs for recyclables, in particular plastics and papers;
• Earmarked $20 million to encourage IT adoption among recyclers in their daily operation to enhance operation efficiency;
• RFAC has also endorsed that EcoPark tenants are eligible to apply for Recycling Fund if they plan to manufacture products from locally-generated recyclables; and
• RFAC is now in consultation with the waste paper recyclers to encourage trade associations to use the Recycling Fund to purchase waste paper conveyor belt and sorting equipment to enhance the overall capability in processing and sorting waste papers in order to meet the Mainland's new requirements on waste paper imports. Also, to support the upgrading of the recycling industry and the development of a manufacturing sector using recycled materials, RFAC plans to continue expanding the prescribed list of equipment of "standard projects", focusing on those equipment that cater to the Mainland's import requirements or for use to produce recycled products. Molding machine and blow molding machine for the production of recycled plastic items will be among the list of funded equipment.

To help the industry open up new outlets for local recycling materials and reduce reliance on a single export market, RFAC and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) will encourage recyclers to expand their business and explore new opportunities in other export markets. In this connection, the Recycling Fund Secretariat will host a seminar on the Southeast Asian Recycling Market on 1 December 2017 to provide information on related trade regulations and markets.

On the other hand, RFAC noted that the State Ministry of Environmental Protection has issued on 30 October 2017 solicitation of opinions documents for two new regulations on the import of waste paper and solid waste. At today's meeting, representatives of recycling industry associations, RFAC members and EPD representatives also discussed and exchanged views on these documents. Aiming to facilitate their implementation from 2018, both documents have provided details and clarifications on the policies and objectives set by the State in July this year. The Environment Bureau and the EPD will continue to closely liaise with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Department of Environmental Protection of Guangdong Province to enable the community and related industries of Hong Kong to be in line with the State policy, in compliance with relevant regulatory policies on both sides.

The HKSAR Government launched the $1 billion Recycling Fund in October 2015 to provide funding support to enhance the overall capability, capacity, efficiency and skills of the local recycling industry, and to help develop the market for recycled products by providing more market information. It also aims to raise the quantity and value of recyclables, thus reducing the amount of waste disposed of at landfills. The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) is the implementing partner and the Secretariat of Recycling Fund.

To date, RFAC has approved funding for 137 applications, except those approved applications that were subsequently withdrawn, among which 98 are under the Enterprise Support Programme (77 of which are under the Small-scale Standard Projects), and 7 come under the Industry Support Programme. The total amount of funding approved is about $80 million.

Applications for the Fund are accepted all year round. For more information, please visit the Recycling Fund website: www.recyclingfund.hk; or contact the secretariat at (852) 2788 5658 or email: enquiry@recyclingfund.hk.

For other media enquiries, please contact Felix Chan of HKPC at tel.: (852) 2788 5036 or email: felixchan@hkpc.org.

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Justina Shum
Senior Manager
Corporate Development
Hong Kong Productivity Council
Tel: (852) 2788 5895
Fax: (852) 2788 5056
Email: justina@hkpc.org
Website: www.hkpc.org

3 November 2017