What is the best way to reduce plastic packaging waste in Hong Kong?
Followed by the announcement of Waste Blueprint in February 2021, HKSAR Government is currently collecting opinions from the public for the Producer Responsibility Scheme (PRS) for beverage packaging in Hong Kong (https://www.pprs.hk/en). The deadline for comments is 21 May 2021.
Why is the "polluter pays" principle important to achieve waste reduction at the source; and how should the policy be designed? Apart from PRS and municipal waste charging, which other policy tools are critical for reducing packaging waste? What roles are universities playing in this context, and how could cross-sectoral collaboration catalyze behavioral change?
HKUST Sustainability Unit, the Division of Environment and Sustainability, and the Institute for the Environment co-hosted this webinar (with Drink Without Waste as our Guest Organization), to facilitate an informed discussion for this decisive moment in Hong Kong's environmental policy-making!
Program
Opening Remarks:
- Prof. Davis BOOKHART – Head of Sustainability Unit, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Scene-Setting (Short presentations):
- Mr. Paul ZIMMERMAN (Single-Use Beverage Packaging Working Group), leading the Drink Without Waste alliance, will share his views on why the "polluter pays" principle is important to achieve waste reduction, and how it shapes related policy and environmental outcomes
- Dr. CHUNG Shan Shan (Hong Kong Baptist University) will share her ideas in making the government's proposed plastic beverage bottle Producer Responsibility Scheme attaining waste reduction and food safety goals at the same time.
- Prof. Benjamin STEUER (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) will lead us to rethink if we are on track towards a Circular Economy, in view of the current proposal of managing plastic waste packaging by means of the Producer Responsibility Scheme
Panel Discussion and Q&A session:
- Moderated by Prof. Davis BOOKHART
Speakers
Prof. Davis BOOKHART is Head of Sustainability Unit, HKUST. Davis joined HKUST in 2013 as senior manager and Head of the university’s Sustainability Unit to develop the university’s first comprehensive sustainability master plan (the HKUST 2020 Sustainability Challenge). Focusing on the four key challenge areas – operations, education, demonstration, and community networks – Bookhart serves as the steward of the Plan’s implementation. He serves as secretariat for the Sustainable Smart Campus as a Living Lab initiative, and is Chair of the Task Force on Sustainability Progress within the HK Sustainable Campus Consortium. Bookhart came to HKUST after eight years as the founding director of the Office of Sustainability at Johns Hopkins University. Bookhart holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a master’s of American Literature from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Prof. Bookhart is also Adjunct Assistant Professor of HKUST's Division of Environment and Sustainability.
Mr. Paul Zimmerman is CEO of Designing Hong Kong, an elected District Councillor representing the Pokfulam constituency, and a board member of Civic Exchange, Professional Commons, Hong Kong Democratic Foundation, and the Patient Care Foundation. His Hong Kong Government advisory functions include the Harbourfront Commission. Paul has a Masters in Social Science (Economics) from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and a Masters of Arts (Transport Policy and Planning) from The University of Hong Kong. He arrived in Hong Kong in 1984 and became a Chinese citizen in 2012.
Dr. Chung Shan Shan is currently the Senior Lecturer of the Biology Department at the Hong Kong Baptist University. She is also the Director the Master of Science in Environmental and Public Health Management Programme and the Convenor of the Task Force on Campus Sustainability of the Hong Kong Baptist University. Dr Chung has been involved in the area of waste and environmental management of Hong Kong for almost 30 years and has been directly involved in many local and regional government-commissioned environmental and waste consultancy studies. Her research has been focused on waste and environmental management of mainland China and Hong Kong. Waste management and recycling behaviour, pharmaceutical waste and e-waste are specific areas in her research interests. She also has research experience in scuba diving and eco-tourism. She won the faculty performance award in individual teaching and team teaching in 2018-9 and 2019-20 respectively.
Prof. Benjamin Steuer is Assistant Professor at HKUST. Benjamin joined the Division of Environment and Sustainability at HKUST in 2019. With a background in Chinese Studies, Political Economy and waste management, Benjamin has been working on China's Circular Economy for over 10 years. During this time he participated in and lead more than a dozen research projects on recycling e-waste, plastics, end-of-life vessels and household waste recyclables in China. In his papers, published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling and Waste Management, Benjamin pursues an interdisciplinary approach combining first-hand quantitative and qualitative data from field research surveys with models of the evolutionary institutional economics.
Event Gallery
Date
Time
3:00 - 4:30 PM
Venue
Webinar
Language
English
Organizer(s)
Co-hosted by Sustainability Unit, Division of Environment and Sustainability, and Institute for the Environment; Guest Organization: Drink Without Waste, Baptist University
Registration
Event Flyer