HONG KONG (SE): While Hong Kong residents are most concerned about how to minimise the municipal solid waste [MSW] expenses scheduled to be imposed in August, cleaning workers face a more pressing challenge: how to carry out their duties. Despite the proposed law being a few months away from taking effect, the Diocesan Pastoral Centre for Workers expressed concerns about needing more guidance. Worker concerns include the lack of concrete guidelines, the heavy workload caused by illegal waste disposal, and even the possibility of them being penalised.
The Hong Kong Island centre organised a talk on February 2, in its Chai Wan office, explaining the proper ways to dispose of waste under the new law and invited people to role-play. The games were intended to introduce the new law that will be implemented with a six-month phase-in period and encourage people to differentiate between legal and illegal waste. Hence, they know what they can do to help reduce the burdens of cleaning workers.
The programme officer of the centre, Louis Lam Wai-ho, said that he discovered that participants needed to be fully aware of the scheme, especially when they had oversized garbage, such as small furniture, which should be charged by weight or have a designated label. He said it was a good chance for people to learn what to do.
Under the MSW charging scheme, waste producers will either be charged—by buying designated bags or labels—before disposing their garbage at communal waste reception areas or by weight through the gate fee of landfills or refuse transfer stations. The latter is for waste brought by private waste collector vehicles.
According to Lam, cleaning workers have experienced an increased workload as people have dumped a lot of household waste ahead of the implementation of the charge to avoid paying a large amount of money or after the traditional cleaning before the Lunar New Year
The centre has been explaining the scheme through street booths, parishes, community centres, and at the Caritas Bazaars since December last year.
According to Lam, cleaning workers have experienced an increased workload as people have dumped a lot of household waste ahead of the implementation of the charge to avoid paying a large amount of money or after the traditional cleaning before the Lunar New Year.
He said some cleaning workers in residential areas had told the centre that they needed to handle two or three extra big 660-litre waste bins daily in addition to the usual 10. Additionally, they need to upload more garbage onto the refuse collection vehicles of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
People have also disposed of large amounts of waste in public areas, such as cabinetry and bed frames, making it very difficult for cleaning workers, who are often senior citizens, to move them. “Yet, many of them are responsible people who try their best to remove these despite the risk of injury for fear of receiving complaints about not doing their jobs,” he added.
Lam noted that the government encourages people to reduce waste at the source and to recycle more. Still, the lack of public awareness of clean recycling has significantly increased workload.
Lam also said cleaners have many questions about the upcoming law. For example, they are unsure who will provide the designated bags for organic waste like leaves or branches or how they can tie up the designated bags in the 660-litre garbage bins, which are almost as tall as they are
Cleaning workers are responsible for cleaning the recycling bins when irresponsible residents contaminate them. Implementing the law in August would add to their woes as the bins stink up quickly in hot weather. “There are lots of arguments about whether it should be the cleaning workers who should deal with the waste in recycling bins, as it has resulted om a lot of extra workload for them,” he said.
Lam also said cleaners have many questions about the upcoming law. For example, they are unsure who will provide the designated bags for organic waste like leaves or branches or how they can tie up the designated bags in the 660-litre garbage bins, which are almost as tall as they are. Cleaning workers also worry that they might be fined if they deal with unwrapped waste in public places or wrapped in a broken bag.
Under the proposed law, fixed penalty tickets of $1,500 each will be issued to offenders. Frontline staff of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and private waste collectors should only accept waste properly wrapped in designated bags or affixed with designated labels.
Lam said that as the several thousand cleaning workers in Hong Kong are considered the gatekeepers of the new law, he believes the government should send representatives to give practical guidelines to them to directly explain what they should do under the new law.
He is concerned that the new law may result in a shortage of cleaning workers, adding pressure to the existing ones.
“Hong Kong’s cleaning workers are mostly older than 60 since not many young people want to work in this field. Some said they may quit the job if the workload is too heavy for people their age, causing a vicious cycle,” he continued.
To help reduce the workload, he urged parishes and Church organisations to properly dispose of their waste after activities and consider buying less food or using less decoration for their events. “It is also, in fact, a good chance for the Church to urge the public to cherish resources, refrain from overconsumption and use recyclable materials,” he said.
