Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme @HKUST

Waste Disposal (Charging for Municipal Solid Waste) (Amendment) Bill 2018 (the Bill) has been passed by the Legislative Council (LegCo) on 26 August 2021. In May 2024, the Hong Kong Government has announced to defer the implementation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Charging scheme on 1 August 2024. The Government will commence a series of measures including enhancing recycling facilities, stepping up public education and promotion and report updates to the Legislative Council in 2025. 

“Charging by designated garbage bag”- we are required to wrap our waste properly in designated garbage bag or affix a designated label to it before disposal. 
 

“Charging by weight” – is mainly applicable to oversized waste or waste which is irregular in shape from commercial and industrial premises. When such waste is disposed of at the refuse transfer stations and landfills, a gate-fee will be charged based on its weight.

In HKUST, the whole university will be charged by "weight" with all our trash collected in compactor. The University will pay for the total waste (based on weight) we dispose. 

Therefore, under the "polluter-pays" scheme, the Campus Management Office (CMO) will prepare the “HKUST designated garbage bag” for use by our staff residents, users in student halls, offices, labs, canteens and shops. They will have to buy and use the "HKUST designated garbage bags" from Campus Management Office.  

Dump Less, Save More!

The HKUST designated garbage bags that are designed and provided by Campus Management office will be charged in line with the government standard. We offer 75L bags for department/office use in the initial stage. 

Oversized waste which cannot be wrapped in designated garbage bags should be disposed by waste collection cart, each cart is charged $100. 

For staff residences, they can buy designated garbage bags from Campus Management Housing Office . For oversized waste which cannot be wrapped in designated garbage bags, residents should contact CMO Housing Office for details of charging and arrangement. 

• During the pilot scheme (January to March 2024), designated HKUST garbage bags were provided to all staff residences for free by collection at the CMO Housing offices. 

For HKUST offices and labs, the garbage bags will be supplied by Campus Management Office and charged back to each office every month based on the number of bag and size of bags consumed. For 75 Litre bag, the charge will be $8.5 each. For special events, offices can request extra designated garbage bags from Campus Management Office. For disposal of bulk items, offices should contact Campus Management Office to arrange waste collection cart ($100 charge each).

For campus caterers and shops, they can order the designated HKUST garbage bags from Campus Management Office with different sizes available. 

For student halls, the garbage bags will be arranged by Student Housing and Residential Life office through supply from Campus Management Office and charged back to students through hall fee. 
 

In HKUST, a working group with members across Campus Management Office, Campus Services Office, Health, Safety and Environment Office, Student Housing and Residential Life Office, and Sustainability/Net-Zero Office discussed the MSW charging scheme arrangement on campus. The group also designed and implemented the pilot scheme in 2024 to get residents, our offices and cleaning contractor to be well prepared for the scheme to be rolled out.

The pilot scheme was held from January 2024 with below details:

• At staff quarters, free HKUST designated garbage bags were supplied to all staff residents from January to March 2024 to dispose their trash (trash bags can be collected at the CMO Housing Offices). The free bags will not be provided after the government launches the waste charging scheme and residents need to purchase their own HKUST designated garbage bags from CMO Housing Offices. Regular monitoring will be held to ensure all residents are using the HKUST designated garbage bags, otherwise further investigation and actions will be carried out.  
• For offices and labs, the HKUST designated garbage bags are supplied by Campus Management Office and charged back to each office every month based on the number of bag and size of bags consumed. For 75L bag,  the charge is $8.5 each. For special events, offices can request extra designated garbage bags from Campus Management Office. For disposal of bulk items, offices should contact Campus Management Office to arrange waste collection cart with $100 charge each. After the Government's announcement of deferring the implementation of city-wide MSW Charging scheme, with the support of the Sustainable Operations Executive Committee, HKUST's MSW Charging Scheme for offices and labs will continue. All the charges for garbage bags and disposable of bulky waste will remain unchanged. 

For offices, oversized waste which cannot be wrapped in designated garbage bags should be disposed by waste collection cart, each cart is charged $100. Please contact Campus Management Office for arrangement. 

For staff residents, if the bulky items cannot be put inside the waste cart, please contact Campus Management Office for separate quotation of disposal. 

To reduce expenditure on MSW charging, the primary way is to reduce waste at source. Besides, recycling and reusing materials through different channels can also reduce expenditure on MSW charging.

HKUST is now collecting items of paper, plastic, metal, glass, food waste, beverage carton, electronic waste, Styrofoam, clothes, wood, landscape waste, animal bedding etc. across campus. More details could be checked out here. EPD also has a community recycling network, which comprises 11 Recycling Stations, 220 public collection points, Recycling Stores and Recycling Spots with services covering all 18 districts across the territory with details on Waste Reduction Website.

For disposing the packaging materials, such as carton/corrugated boxes and styrofoam, you can put the recyclable waste at the recycling bins collection point on Ground Floor outside each staff quarter. The cleaning team will recycle the waste without charges. The pre-paid HKUST designated bag is only for disposing the household general waste that cannot be recycled.