Greeners Action – Taking a Proactive Role to Promote Green Management and Waste Reduction

Promoting Beverage Carton Recycling

According to 2022 waste statistics, Hong Kong discards 2,244 tonnes of waste paper daily, accounting for 20% of all municipal solid waste, making it the city’s third largest waste component. This huge volume of paper waste includes beverage cartons made of composite materials, which cannot be recycled together with regular waste paper. However, since the general public does not understand this, they simply discard them. It is estimated that these beverage cartons will take decades to decompose in landfills, causing significant environmental pollution.

Greeners Action has long been concerned about the issue of discarded paper drink cartons. Since 2019, it has organised the “Beverage Cartons Clean Recycling” programme, currently offering about 30 recycling points across Hong Kong. These collected cartons are sent to "MilMill" for processing, and then turned into recycled paper products.

Through active promotion of this programme, public awareness of recycling has gradually increased, and over two tonnes of beverage cartons were recycled in 2023 alone. Based on an average weight of 10 grams per 250ml aluminium-coated carton, this recycled weight in 2023 was equivalent to about 200,000 beverage cartons. Greeners Action hopes to continue setting up public recycling points for beverage cartons across Hong Kong to promote recycling, reduce waste, and alleviate pressure on landfills.