Quit obsessing over yourself this New Year and make a resolution to help the earth. By Stephanie Woo

 With even ParknShop getting into green gear and switching to biodegradable plastic bags, it’s high time you started dong your part to help the environment. So get started recycling – yes, they’ve been saying it for years, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less important. It’s a shame the government hasn’t made it clearer or easier for you to get started, but hey, at least we’re here to help with this handy guide.

The Upcoming Landfill Crunch

Out of sight, out of mind… This couldn’t be less true. There are only three landfills in the whole of Hong Kong, and the Friends of the Earth (FOE) environmental concern group predicts that by 2015, all three will be too full to continue dumping.

Recycling seems to be our only feasible alternative – and the government knows this. In the past few years, over 28,000 additional three-colored waste separation bins have been placed throughout the city. Also, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has created the Program on Source Separation of Domestic Waste, which has created waste separation facilities on each floor of major housing developments.

But despite all this, the FOE’s research reveals only 20 percent of Hong Kong households recycle. “It’s true that the government is promoting recycling,” says FOE project manager Stephen Chung. “But the movement isn’t popular.”

That’s of little surprise – why bother going to a collection point when you can easily take the lazy route and throw your recyclables in with the other trash? “We have to make recycling as convenient as possible,” says Professor L.S. Chan of the Earth Science Department at the University of Hong Kong. “In some countries in the west, garbage fees are increased by 20-30 percent to include recycling charges.”

This is possible, but unlikely considering the difficulty our government has adjusting our tax policy. Therefore, there’s only one real long-term solution: “We need to endorse a culture that encourages reusing and recycling, rather than constant purchasing,” says Chan. A tall order, sure, but you can get started recycling the old way.

How Can You Recycle?

( Do It Yourself. Set up two trashcans within the house: one for recyclables and the other for trash. Make sure to separate paper bags, envelopes (remove plastic windows and adhesive flaps), cardboard boxes, aluminum cans, tin trays, non-biodegradable plastic bags and batteries. But not everything can be recycled – no dirty tissues, wax-coated papers, styrofoam, aerosol cans or hard-thermosetting plastic buckets.

( Use the Three-colored Bins. There are over 28,000 of them out there. Start using them!

( Join the EPD’s Program. The EPD’s Program on Source Separation of Domestic Waste employs bins in housing estate buildings. Join the program at www.epd.gov.hk and encourage your neighbors to recycle.

( If You Can’t Recycle, Donate. The Salvation Army (www.salvation.org.hk) and Crossroads (www.crossroads.org.hk) will take most of your reusable old items off your hands, either for recycling or for reselling. Check their websites for collection points.

( Donate Items That Can’t Be Recycled. Electronic items are difficult to recycle due to their chemical content, but they are often reusable. The EPD holds a Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling Day around January of every year. Check www.epd.gov.hk for updates on when the next one will take place.

( Stop Buying Crap. “Hong Kong people buy too many unnecessary objects,” says Chung. “Clothes, cameras, cell phones – they all use up our planet’s limited resources.” If you can’t be bothered to recycle, at least skip the next Hello Kitty lanyard.

Recycling: How It Works
The three main recyclable materials are paper, plastic and metal, says Chung. This is what happens:

Paper – Dissolved into a pulp and then made into new, softer paper, like newspapers, tissue paper and toilet paper. But don’t worry, toilet paper is the end of the line and doesn’t get recycled.

Metal – Re-melted and reprocessed, meaning your Coke can was probably just another Coke can in its former life.

Plastic – A little tricky. Chung explains that plastic changes chemically when it is re-molded; each time, the material becomes less flexible. In fact, if you look at the bottom of a water bottle, you will find a number encircled by a recycle symbol – this indicates the number of times the plastic has been recycled. A Bonaqua bottle usually will have been recycled once, while a hard plastic bag flask will typically be in its seventh reincarnation. “In general, plastic is recycled four to five times,” says Chung.

Biodegradable vs. Non-biodegradable
Wait, you can’t recycle biodegradable bags? Then why are they so great?

While biodegradable bags like the ones introduced in Park’N’Shop are a step in the right direction, they are a far cry from a true solution to our city’s pollution problems. Environmental Protection Department officer Felix Leung explains that biodegradable bags still take at least five years to decompose. “The use of biodegradable plastic bags does not actually solve the problem of the indiscriminate use of bags,” adds Leung. On the contrary, it just makes it worse.
    As we reported in our article on banning plastic bags last July, the two types of bags cannot be recycled together because of their chemical compositions. This causes a problem because we currently have a mixture of biodegradable and non-biodegradable bags coming together in our recycling plants, which means we can’t recycle any plastic bags.
    The only way both types of bags can be recycled is if the garbage department were to separate them – which is time-consuming and costly, in fact, virtually impossible. So what happens to all our plastic bags now? They’re all going straight to the landfill.

What Happens If We Don’t Recycle?
Recycling is costly and time-consuming – not exactly music to the urbanite’s ear. However, if we keep polluting at this rate, our future looks pretty dismal. “We must recycle if we want to survive another 100 to 200 years,” says Chan. Get off your ass and get moving.