Drink Without Waste 免「廢」暢飲 Re-Thinking Single-Use Plastic Beverage Packaging in HK

Over 80% of packaging used for beverages ends up as waste in Hong Kong’s landfills. In 2017 this amounted to over 1.7 billion units. On the current course, by 2030 the numbers will swell to over 2 billion units per year.

In 2017, local NGO’s together with Hong Kong’s leading beverage producers and bottlers, representing nearly half of bottle water and soft drinks sold in Hong Kong, joined major retailers and the waste industry to form of the Single-Use Beverage Packaging Working Group. The Group pledges to work towards 70%-90% recovery rates for PET containers and liquid cartons in Hong Kong and with all parties – government, producers, retailers, recyclers and consumers – working closely together, this increase could be achieved by 2025.It operates under the brand Drink Without Waste.

The Group first commissioned a comprehensive study to inform a clear and unanimous position statement which was subsequently launched in December 2018. The paper outlines strategies and actions to address the increasing mountain of waste from sealed single use beverage containers in Hong Kong.  The Group is currently developing and implementing a strategy for the establishment of a Producer Responsibility Scheme as well as raising public awareness to reduce the use of single use beverage packaging.