Environment | DSPA outlines campaign roadmap for 2019

The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) continues its work on the conservation, reuse, and recycling of resources, the Bureau noted yesterday at a press conference at the CEM building.

Similar to previous years, the Bureau is organizing a series of events to promote the works, adding new elements and enhancing existing events.

With more premises and public facilities turning to LED illumination, which uses plastics, a campaign on the recycling of used fluorescent, conventional, and LED lights will debut this year.

Collection boxes will be placed at commercial and residential buildings, as well as at points of sale. Citizens are advised to wrap used light bulbs and tubes before disposing of them using the boxes.

Detoxification and separation work will be conducted at plants nearby Macau. Afterwards, usable materials will be recycled.

The method of plastic bottle collection will be upgraded in the third quarter this year. Machines for plastic bottle collection will be introduced to maximize the efficiency of collection.

The machine can recognize emptied bottles by measuring their weight.

In order to encourage recycling, incentives will be offered. Citizens disposing of plastic bottles using the machine will be rewarded with points that can be redeemed for rewards.

Only types 1 and 2 plastic can be collected by the machine. The Bureau, however, did not provide a roadmap regarding educating citizens about this.

Upgrades will also take place in another campaign to encourage people to refuse the use of disposable utensils. The campaign, which started in December last year and was set to end in May this year, has been extended to end in May 2020. In the campaign, consumers can collect stamps every time they refuse disposable plastic utensils when they buy takeaway food. With 28 stamps, consumers can redeem a set of reusable utensils, and rewards will be upgraded.

Currently, each consumer can only get a set of utensils, but they will be able to receive five sets in the new phase of the campaign. Consumers refusing plastic utensils 268 times or more will be given credits of appreciation at the World Environment Day ceremony in 2020.

Today, the Bureau is starting a collaboration with the Public Security Police by distributing reusable plastic bottles to police officers as part of their regular gear. Staff reporter