Measuring bulky waste arisings in Hong Kong

Shan-shan Chung; Ka-yan Winifred Lau; Chan Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2010.01.009

Measuring bulky waste arisings in Hong Kong

Shan-shan Chung^*
, Ka-yan Winifred Lau
, Chan Zhang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

257 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

All too often, waste authorities either assume that they know enough about their bulky waste stream or that it is too insignificant to deserve attention. In this paper, we use Hong Kong as an example to illustrate that official bulky waste figures can actually be very different from the reality and therefore important waste management decisions made based on such statistics may be wrong too. This study is also the first attempt in Hong Kong to outline the composition of bulky waste.

It was found that about 342. tonnes/day of wood waste were omitted by official statistics owing to incomplete records on actual bulky waste flow. This is more than enough to provide all the feedstock needed for one regular-sized wood waste recycling facility in Hong Kong. In addition, the proportion of bulky waste in the municipal solid waste (MSW) streams in Hong Kong should be about 6.1% instead of the officially stated 1.43%. Admittedly, there are limitations with this study. Yet, present findings are suggestive of significant MSW data distortion in Hong Kong.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	737-743
Number of pages	7
Journal	Waste Management
Volume	30
Issue number	5
Early online date	25 Jan 2010
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.01.009
Publication status	Published - May 2010

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

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title = "Measuring bulky waste arisings in Hong Kong",

abstract = "All too often, waste authorities either assume that they know enough about their bulky waste stream or that it is too insignificant to deserve attention. In this paper, we use Hong Kong as an example to illustrate that official bulky waste figures can actually be very different from the reality and therefore important waste management decisions made based on such statistics may be wrong too. This study is also the first attempt in Hong Kong to outline the composition of bulky waste.It was found that about 342. tonnes/day of wood waste were omitted by official statistics owing to incomplete records on actual bulky waste flow. This is more than enough to provide all the feedstock needed for one regular-sized wood waste recycling facility in Hong Kong. In addition, the proportion of bulky waste in the municipal solid waste (MSW) streams in Hong Kong should be about 6.1\% instead of the officially stated 1.43\%. Admittedly, there are limitations with this study. Yet, present findings are suggestive of significant MSW data distortion in Hong Kong.",

author = "Shan-shan Chung and Lau, \{Ka-yan Winifred\} and Chan Zhang",

note = "Funding Information: This research is supported by the Public Policy Research grant (project no. HKBU2001-PPR5-BIOL) and the Marginally-Funded Post-Graduate Fund (on Persistent Toxic Substances) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. Last but not the least, the authors would like to express gratitude to the four anonymous reviewers for their constructive and detailed comments.",

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AU - Lau, Ka-yan Winifred

AU - Zhang, Chan

N1 - Funding Information: This research is supported by the Public Policy Research grant (project no. HKBU2001-PPR5-BIOL) and the Marginally-Funded Post-Graduate Fund (on Persistent Toxic Substances) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. Last but not the least, the authors would like to express gratitude to the four anonymous reviewers for their constructive and detailed comments.

PY - 2010/5

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N2 - All too often, waste authorities either assume that they know enough about their bulky waste stream or that it is too insignificant to deserve attention. In this paper, we use Hong Kong as an example to illustrate that official bulky waste figures can actually be very different from the reality and therefore important waste management decisions made based on such statistics may be wrong too. This study is also the first attempt in Hong Kong to outline the composition of bulky waste.It was found that about 342. tonnes/day of wood waste were omitted by official statistics owing to incomplete records on actual bulky waste flow. This is more than enough to provide all the feedstock needed for one regular-sized wood waste recycling facility in Hong Kong. In addition, the proportion of bulky waste in the municipal solid waste (MSW) streams in Hong Kong should be about 6.1% instead of the officially stated 1.43%. Admittedly, there are limitations with this study. Yet, present findings are suggestive of significant MSW data distortion in Hong Kong.

AB - All too often, waste authorities either assume that they know enough about their bulky waste stream or that it is too insignificant to deserve attention. In this paper, we use Hong Kong as an example to illustrate that official bulky waste figures can actually be very different from the reality and therefore important waste management decisions made based on such statistics may be wrong too. This study is also the first attempt in Hong Kong to outline the composition of bulky waste.It was found that about 342. tonnes/day of wood waste were omitted by official statistics owing to incomplete records on actual bulky waste flow. This is more than enough to provide all the feedstock needed for one regular-sized wood waste recycling facility in Hong Kong. In addition, the proportion of bulky waste in the municipal solid waste (MSW) streams in Hong Kong should be about 6.1% instead of the officially stated 1.43%. Admittedly, there are limitations with this study. Yet, present findings are suggestive of significant MSW data distortion in Hong Kong.

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JO - Waste Management

JF - Waste Management

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ER -

Measuring bulky waste arisings in Hong Kong

Abstract

UN SDGs

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