Circular economy : Hong Kong's new recycling plant boost circular economy
The opening of Hong Kong’s first advanced plastic recycling plant mid-this year could kick-start a “closed loop” of turning household resin waste into recycled material, in line with the government’s waste blueprint.
New Life Plastics will process up to 100 tonnes of plastic waste a day, and turn it into secondary raw material to be reused in the manufacture of new resin products. It is a joint venture between Swire Coca Cola, Baguio Waste Management & Recycling and the german recycling company Alba.
The joint venture representative of New Life, Nigel Mattravers, says that New Life has the capacity to manage virtually all PET bottles that Hong Kong produces, "plus a large proportion of HDPE".
Hong Kongs Blue print
Just a month ago Hong Kong released the 2035 waste management blueprint, which calls for circularity to better manage waste. The blueprint advocates a shift from the current “take, make, dispose” linear model to a closed loop that minimises waste and reuses resources. This shift could also halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, a study of Ellen MacArthur Foundation found out. It was consistent with Hong Kong’s goal of carbon-neutrality by 2050.
New Life could plug the gaps in this circularity with its major partners. The New Life facility has sealed a three-year partnership with P&G and Watsons Hong Kong, which launched a citywide recycling campaign last week. In the first year, the campaign hopes to recycle 110,000 plastic personal care bottles, a target that could rise to 210,000 in 2023.
At New Life, the plastic waste will be processed into raw materials, which can be sold and used in the manufacture of PET and HDPE products. But Hong Kong’s demand for remanufacturing remained low, said New Life’s Mattravers. The recycled PET will be sold principally in Europe, while the processed HDPE will remain in the Asia-Pacific market, he added.
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