Consumers may have to bear the costs of recycling on their own when they buy new electrical and electronics (E&E) products under the government's new producer responsibility scheme (PRS), Friends of the Earth, a local green group, warned on Monday.

The Environment Bureau said in January 2010 that it planned to introduce legislation to implement a mandatory PRS in an attempt to enhance management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Yet, the rules, set out in the PRS, stated that the fee for recycling is "to be collected at retail level" on the sales of television sets, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners and computers, which, according to the group, may open the way for the retailer to transfer the costs to consumers, not exactly "producer responsibility".

The group suggested that the government either include the recycling fee in retail prices, as part of the production cost, or clearly stipulate the percentage of the cost for importers, distributors, retailers and consumers.

At present, more than 70,000 tons of WEEE are generated in Hong Kong annually, with an annual 2 percent increase in recent years.

Most of what is generated is sold to developing countries, for re-use or recovery of the valuable materials. Much has been sold to the mainland.

With the mainland implementing its own PRS in January, it has already tightened the import of WEEE since then.

"The city's current system has the taxpayers, or in other words, consumers, paying the entire bill for the recycling cost ... The consumer should bear the responsibility, but not all," said Ng Sai-leung, professor at the Department of Geography and Resource Management of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong has only what can be called recycling service, not a recycling industry, which would not only take in materials, but also transform the waste material into usable resources," added Ng.

More than 30 countries and regions, including the mainland, Taiwan, and South Korea, have adopted such PRS.

The group also suggested the government set up a central fund to subsidize the WEEE treatment plant.

It suggested entire recycling fee collected go to the fund, which would subsidize the plant according to the amount of waste processed.

Lam Kwan-sing, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Environment of the Environmental Protection Department, said on Monday that the council reached a consensus on the proposal to collect recycling fees ranging from HK$100-250 from electrical appliance retailers and consumers, as they are also part of pollutant producers.

It will put forward the proposal to the Legislative Council (LegCo) at a meeting on the new scheme for WEEE on Nov 28.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 11/15/2011 page1)