Hong Kong case study: Overcoming barriers to a Zero Landfill direction through solutions that decarbonise the waste sector

Hong Kong faces a waste management sustainability crisis - its landfills are nearing capacity while the city races toward a 2050 carbon neutrality deadline. Hong Kong residents currently generate 1.51 kg of waste per person daily, which is significantly more than Tokyo (0.88 kg), Seoul (0.96 kg), or Taipei (1.14 kg), posing a waste management challenge as its landfills approach capacity. On top of this, the waste sector contributes 7.7% of Hong Kong’s total GHG emissions. Our peer-reviewed research reveals policies, such as the long-debated Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme, could deliver significant emission reductions while addressing the landfill problem.

This study combined quantitative emissions modelling and qualitative analysis from key informant interviews with 12 waste sector experts and provides the first published research analysis linking the MSW Charging Scheme to Hong Kong's 2050 carbon neutrality goals.

The landfill tipping point

Hong Kong's waste management relies heavily on landfills, with 68% of municipal solid waste landfilled. This reliance on landfilling poses several challenges - landfills produce significant methane emissions, considerable financial resources are diverted from recycling and recovery, and landfills occupy valuable land resources.

The operational and environmental costs of going down this path are substantial, and research projections show that business-as-usual practices would increase waste emissions by 21% by 2050 - a trajectory that does not align with Hong Kong's climate commitments. Food waste accounts for 30% of landfilled waste, producing methane through anaerobic digestion when it is landfilled. Food waste presents both a challenge and an opportunity, as it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas, when landfilled, but also offers potential for generating energy through anaerobic digestion.

Lessons from regional neighbours

Hong Kong can look to Asian peers facing similar urban density and waste challenges to obtain blueprints for sustainable waste strategies. Taipei implemented a unit-based waste pricing that transformed behaviours towards waste generation, ultimately reducing household waste by 64% over two decades. Seoul's mandatory building-level sorting systems increased recycling compliance by 37% through practical infrastructure solutions and Tokyo's systematic recycling framework, requiring waste separation and behavioural changes, achieved 55% recycling rates.

These successful examples highlight what works in managing waste - strong policy paired with practical implementation support. As Hong Kong waste experts emphasised, effective implementation of waste strategies requires infrastructure solutions (recycling bins on every floor, not just basements) and behavioral enablers (property managers as waste champions and equipping them with tools and authority).

The oft-delayed MSW Charging Scheme

The Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Charging Scheme, first proposed in 2005 and legislated in 2021, introduces volume-based fees for waste disposal to reduce per capita waste and boost recycling rates.

When implemented, the MSW Charging Scheme creates three critical opportunities:

• Incentivises waste segregation at source: Our research shows mandatory separation could increase recycling rates by 20-30%, with food waste diversion offering particular emissions benefits.
• Encourages recycling to avoid fees: By creating direct costs for disposal, the scheme encourages recycling and waste minimisation to avoid the fee. As demonstrated in similar programs in Taiwan and South Korea, this financial incentive structure has proven effective at driving behavioural changes in waste disposal practices.
• Cuts emissions from the waste sector: This plan enables 45% per capita waste reduction and 55% recycling; when achieved, our modelling confirms these would cut emissions by 49% versus business as usual.

Solutions and pathways to implementation

Political will is the prerequisite to enable effective implementation of waste management policies. Three strategic priorities emerged from our research:

1. Infrastructure before enforcement

Implement the MSW Charging Scheme alongside mandatory waste segregation, creating financial incentives and requirements for waste separation, supported by appropriate infrastructure in residential buildings and public spaces.

2. Set material-specific recycling targets

Current waste strategies set a blanket target for recycling. It is important to set material-specific recycling targets rather than general targets, as it will provide the necessary resources-technological and financial support, to go into local recycling businesses to meet these targets.

3. Enable behavioural change

Strengthen public engagement through education campaigns, build trust in the recycling system, and ensure convenience in disposing of waste, particularly in Hong Kong's high-rise residential buildings.

Decarbonisation as a benefit

How we can help

We have Sustainable Waste Management specialists both locally on the ground in Hong Kong and globally who can deliver independent commercially focused advice to waste producers, the private waste sector, infrastructure developers, funders and the public sector. Our experience spans the full range of waste and resource management solutions, from reduction and reuse, recycling, composting and anaerobic digestion, and energy recovery to final disposal. In addition to waste diversion and resource recovery, we consider resource use, emissions and market viability, providing solutions that align with sustainability and circular economy principles.

The team also manages input from our complementary in-house engineering, permitting, planning and specialist environmental services teams when needed, to deliver fully aligned, cost effective infrastructure solutions.