Hong Kong's disposable society bins ton of rubbish per head a year

Oct 26, 2010, 5:04 GMT

Hong Kong - Hong Kong people threw away nearly a ton of rubbish each last year, making them one of the world's biggest per capita producers of trash, a news report said Tuesday.

Government figures cited by the South China Morning Post show the city of 7 million people generated 6.45 million tons of rubbish in 2009 or 921 kilograms per person.

The figures top those of 30 economies surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2009 which named Norwegians as top waste producers with 830 kilograms per person per year.

People in the United States produced 760 kilograms of rubbish per head annually according to the OECD survey while the Japanese produced only 410 kilograms and South Koreans 380 kilograms.

Around one half of the rubbish generated in densely populated Hong Kong in 2009 ended up in landfills while the remainder was dealt with by recycling and other means, according to the newspaper.

Hong Kong is notorious for its heavy carbon footprint and the government plans to bring in a levy on rubbish collection next year as well as building incinerators and opening new landfill sites.

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