Our Desk | Our addiction to waste

Daniel Beitler

Macau’s addiction to waste is a troubling phenomenon, especially because such a disparity exists between what we think we throw out and what we actually do.

The picture above, acquired by the Times from a reader, shows a rooftop on the peninsula. It is both astonishing and undignified for Macau.

According to data provided by the Environmental Protection Bureau, Macau is one of the most wasteful cities in the world in terms of production per capita.

The amount of waste produced per capita per day in Macau amounted to 2.11 kilograms in 2016, significantly higher than in Beijing (1 kilogram), Hong Kong (1.39 kilograms) and Singapore (1.49 kilograms).

From a worldwide perspective, Macau exceeds the average daily per capita production of the European Union, currently at 1.3 kilograms, and even the U.S., where waste production reaches 2 kilograms per person per day.

Few people in Macau would have guessed that.

Integrated resorts in the city no doubt play a major role in creating waste – particular when it comes to food, but also in terms of electricity, packaging and print promotions. Some degree of waste is expected, perhaps unavoidable, when dealing with luxury services, like those offered in integrated resorts.

Though luxury does not necessarily entail waste, it often goes hand-in-hand with over-indulgence and surplus.

A friend of mine was once so mindful never to waste food that he would resist the discomfort of feeling full just to clean his plate. That was until someone told him that eating in excess is also a waste of food – it’s just waste stored in our bodies, instead of a trash can.

But for others, luxury doesn’t have to presuppose waste. Go for a fine-dining experience and you will find that luxury does not mean excess, but rather refinement and exclusivity.

And anyway integrated resorts cannot assume all of the blame.

A part of the reason that Macau’s daily per capita waste is far beyond that of its neighbors (and perhaps the entire world) is due to the very low level of poverty that exists in the city. The government has been successful in raising living standards for the entire population that is fortunate enough to be considered a “permanent” inhabitant.

In a recent “Shoot and Chop” episode about the environment, interviewees were asked their opinions about whether Macau can do more to recycle. The consensus was yes: Macau can do more and it should do more. And yet the respondents almost unanimously considered that they were not the ones who needed to take the first steps.

As for me – years of being scolded for wastefulness is beginning to pay off. I have a long way to go, but I try to make a point of refusing single-use plastic bags and accepting that I will need to pay a premium when ordering food because I don’t need or want the drink or dessert required for the discount.

The Environmental Protection Bureau has also realized that it must take the lead in combatting the scale of waste in the city – not least of all because a failure to do so would call into question the entire purpose of the department… and that is a topic for another day.

To this end, the bureau aims to reduce the amount of waste per capita each day by 30 percent by 2026. That would mean that the average person in Macau consumes 1.48 kilograms of waste each day, or about the level of Hong Kong today. Good luck to them.