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To strengthen the support for waste reduction and recycling at the district level, the Environmental Protection Department continues its efforts in establishing a network of Community Green Stations (“CGSs”) across the territory and instilling a green living culture in the community. With government funding, CGSs are operated by non-profit-making organisations (“NPOs”) through open tenders. The CGS operators, through different recycling programmes and educational activities, have proactively connected with the housing estates and property management companies in their districts to establish an extensive service network. They also set up public place collections points in their districts to enhance ways and flexibility of recycling. Moreover, they deploy collection vehicles to collect recyclables within the districts directly in order to provide support to the collection of recyclables in the community, including waste paper, waste plastic, waste metals, electrical appliances, glass bottles, fluorescent lamps and tubes, as well as rechargeable batteries, etc. The recyclables collected will then be sent to suitable recyclers for subsequent processing. The CGS operators organize free-of-charge swap events from time to time for members of public to promote the reuse of used items such as old books, clothes and toys, etc. For details, click here to view the video.
As of November 2018, we have seven CGSs progressively in operation across the territory. Sha Tin CGS and Eastern CGS were commissioned in 2015, Kwun Tong CGS, Yuen Long CGS and Sham Shui Po CGS were commissioned in 2017. Tuen Mun CGS and Kwai Tsing CGS have been opened and providing environmental education events as well as recycling service to the public since September and November 2018 respectively. Besides, Tai Po CGS and Islands CGS will commence operation in the second half of 2019 and the first half of 2020 respectively. The CGSs are operating in good track. They have been well received by the local community and have been making good progress in providing logistic support for community recycling. Up to end of 2018, the CGSs have collected over 4,200 tonnes of recyclables, received more than 790,000 visitors and conducted more than 4,000 environmental education events consisting of exhibitions, presentations, workshops and others.
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