Facility Tour to Alba WEEE·PARK – GCC (HK)
On Thursday 15 November, FiduShare Ambassadors joined the Alba WEEE-Park Facility tour in Tuen Mun, organised by the German Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong. It is a joint venture between recycling specialist ALBA Group from Germany, local solid waste management service provider Integrated Waste Solutions Group Holdings Limited (IWS) and the Hong Kong Government since 2015.
WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, 70,000 tons of WEEE are generated in Hong Kong every year making it the biggest e-Waste generator in Asia. 20% of WEEE is sent to landfills; 80% is exported to third world countries, and burned without proper handling and safety procedures.
Not all WEEE is trash! Much of its resource can be recycled. A new legislation in place since last year imposes strict guidelines on the handling of WEEE. For example retailers must provide take-back recycling services and must provide adequate resources and facilities for collection, sorting, treatment, recycling & re-use.We would like to help raise awareness of the WEEE issues in your communities and encourage others around you to use the WEEE-Park Collection Service.
It is a valuable experience that I can see the recycling process especially how the old electrical appliances can be turned to raw materials of iron, copper, aluminium and plastic and re-used.
I enjoyed learning about the recycling process and see how the advanced equipment turns the e-waste into reusable materials.
It was a great experience to visit Alba WEEE-Park. I have a better idea now of the importance of recycling E-waste and a better understanding on how the transformation actually works during the interactive visit. Thanks for giving me such opportunity!
Ivy
The WEEE-park is impressive and the visit very educational. As a HK citizen, I only heard of the new legislation on TV about disposing/ buying electrical goods. Then, visiting the actual recycling site taught me more how complicated the process is to dispose of electrical goods properly with the least possible harm to the environment. This brings us to think more carefully about how our actions can have high costs to the environment.
Two interesting aspects to this visit: on one hand, the organisation and financing which includes government, corporate sector and consumers ; on the other hand, the technology that allows to extract and reuse resources from wastes. Additionally, enforcing longer products warranty towards manufacturers and promoting the refurbishment towards consumers should be a front-line priority.
It was a great opportunity to visit Alba WEEE-Park. Very interesting to see how they use the advanced technologies and equipment for the treatment/ recycling process of refrigerators, computers, washing machines and air conditioners and turning the waste into reusable materials.
