Green Practices
HKUST Receives Diamond Award in Environmental Protection Department’s Commendation Scheme on Source Separation of Commercial and Industrial Waste
Among the 487 participants of the scheme, only the top 4% were awarded Diamond level. It is our honour to receive recognition and encouragement for our dedication and commitment in waste reduction and recycling, as part of the goals in HKUST 2020 Sustainability Challenge. HKUST had a recycling rate of 30.8% in the 2019/20 reporting period (2019 April to 2020 March) for the Programme on Source Separation of Commercial & Industrial Waste, with more than 15 types of recyclables: paper, metal, plastics, food waste, glass, polyfoam, electrical appliances, wood, animal bedding, yard waste, ink cartridge, toner, fluorescent tube, light bulb, rechargeable battery, and clothes. In 2019/20 alone, we had collected 857 tonnes of recyclables in total, meaning that 857 tonnes of waste had been diverted from landfills.
HKUST’s efforts in waste reduction has earned a Diamond Award in the Commendation Scheme on Source Separation of Commercial and Industrial Waste organised by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) this year.
In December 2019, we launched a smart waste weighing system by adding a waste compactor and a RFID-integrated electronic scale to enhance the accuracy of daily waste data collection.
As of today, more than 200 recycling bins and collection stations have now been installed around our campus. A food waste collection program has been introduced across the canteens, student halls, staff quarters and office pantries, which is the largest source of recycling. By using RFID-integrated electronic scales and labelling, precise waste collection data is collected across the campus which streamlines the logistics and process of waste collection and provides insights for our setting of waste reduction strategies and initiatives.
More details can be found in a video produced by EPD on our source reduction and clean recycling efforts, which will be published on social media platforms soon. Once again, congratulations and thank you to all the community members for playing a part in waste reduction and the initiatives driven by the Campus Management Office and the Campus Services Office in all these years! Let us continue to conserve our resources and improve our waste reduction rate even more! If you have any ideas on waste reduction, feel free to email us at green@ust.hk.
