First Award Ceremony for Packaging Reduction Charter Successfully Held

First award ceremony for Packaging Reduction Charter held

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (September 30) held the first award ceremony for the Packaging Reduction Charter to commend businesses for their outstanding contributions to reducing packaging waste in 2025-26. A total of 75 signatory companies to the Charter were being honoured. Participating companies reduced approximately 13 000 tonnes of packaging materials in total, which is equivalent to the weight of about 900 double-decker buses.

Speaking at the award ceremony, the Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Miss Diane Wong, said that this year marks the opening year of the National 15th Five-Year Plan. The plan clearly sets out to accelerate the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development, leveraging carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as drivers to enhance the momentum for green development. To proactively align with the National 15th Five-Year Plan, the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030) also mentions that the EPD will deepen the reform of the municipal solid waste management system, striving to move away from reliance on landfill disposal for municipal solid waste directly by 2035, with a view to achieving "Zero Landfill".

She stated that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has long adopted a practical and feasible approach, actively collaborating with the trades to explore and promote packaging waste reduction in Hong Kong. She commended the awardees for their persistent efforts and contributions, emphasising that the commercial and industrial sectors' active efforts in waste reduction at source are crucial for Hong Kong's progress towards "Zero Landfill" and carbon neutrality. She thanked various sectors for their efforts in environmental protection, and appealed for more companies to join in the future to jointly promote a green business culture.

The five assessment criteria for the Charter are "Packaging Reduction", "Packaging Recyclability", "Packaging Reuse/Recycling", "Sustainable Packaging", and "Promotion of Packaging Reduction". Awardees were presented with Platinum, Gold, and Merit awards respectively. The list of awardees is available on the thematic website of the Charter (www.lesspackaging.hk).

The EPD launched the Charter in March last year to encourage businesses to reassess and reduce their packaging usage, foster a waste reduction culture in commercial activities, and support Hong Kong's long-term goals of "Zero Landfill" and carbon neutrality. So far, a total of 148 local and multinational companies have signed the Charter, covering about 3 000 service and retail outlets across the territory in various retail and catering categories. This reflects that the Charter has been well received by the trades and has delivered remarkable results.

To assist businesses in packaging reduction and management, the EPD has published the Practical Guides on Packaging Reduction and Management (Practical Guides) for eight specific sectors (Note) on its website for the trades' reference. In addition, to address the substantial increase in parcels, cartons, and filling materials arising from the rapid development of online shopping, the EPD has, starting from 2026, collaborated with major logistics companies to progressively implement the Self-pickup Store On-site Recycling Project. This facilitates the on-site return of packaging materials by members of the public for reuse and recycling immediately after collecting their parcels at the self-pickup stores. For the latest information on the Charter, please refer to the thematic website.

Note: The eight specific sectors are supermarkets and grocery stores, logistics, e-commerce, hotel and hospitality, electronics and electrical appliances, beverage manufacturing, food manufacturing, and importers.

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (September 30) held the first award ceremony for the Packaging Reduction Charter to commend businesses for their outstanding contributions to reducing packaging waste in 2025-26. Photo shows the Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Miss Diane Wong (seventh right); the Director of Environmental Protection, Dr Samuel Chui (sixth right); the Deputy Director of Environmental Protection (Waste Reduction), Mr Kenneth Cheng (fifth right); the Assistant Director of Environmental Protection (Waste Management), Mr Steve Wong (fourth right); and other attending guests and representatives of awardees pictured at the award ceremony. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Environmental Protection Department today (September 30) held the first award ceremony for the Packaging Reduction Charter to commend businesses for their outstanding contributions to reducing packaging waste in 2025-26. Photo shows the Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Miss Diane Wong (centre); the Director of Environmental Protection, Dr Samuel Chui (fourth left); the Deputy Director of Environmental Protection (Waste Reduction), Mr Kenneth Cheng (fourth right); and representatives from the supporting organisations of the Charter pictured at the launching ceremony of the award ceremony. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Environmental Protection Department today (September 30) held the first award ceremony for the Packaging Reduction Charter to commend businesses for their outstanding contributions to reducing packaging waste in 2025-26. Photo shows the Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Miss Diane Wong, giving a speech at the award ceremony. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Inter-departmental Task Force against Illegal Employment convenes third meeting

The Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, chaired the third meeting of the Inter-departmental Task Force against Illegal Employment today (September 30). At the meeting, the Task Force discussed measures to combat illegal employment in the 2026 Policy Address, followed up on the latest situation of illegal employment, and agreed to co-opt the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB), the Development Bureau (DEVB), the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the Home Affairs Department (HAD) and the Tourism Commission (TC) as members of the Task Force, with a view to combating illegal employment in key industries.

The Convenor of the Task Force, Mr Tang, said, "The Chief Executive announced in the 2026 Policy Address an array of measures to step up efforts to combat illegal employment on all fronts. In particular, after reviewing the latest trends of illegal employment, the Task Force has designated catering and cleaning, renovation and construction, retail, food delivery, transport and logistics as well as tourism as key industries, and co-opted relevant bureaux and departments as members of the Task Force in order to strengthen the functions of the Task Force and curb illegal employment in these key industries in a targeted manner. In addition, we will invite relevant sectors to nominate representatives as 'Anti-Illegal Employment Ambassadors', who will join hands with the Government in combating illegal employment. They will assist in intelligence collection to widen our intelligence network and step up publicity and education in relevant sectors so as to raise awareness of not employing illegal workers."

At the same time, under the co-ordination of the Task Force, relevant departments will actively take forward other measures in the 2026 Policy Address, including leveraging technology to enhance the effectiveness of cyber patrol and intelligence collection; reviewing the penalty for illegal employment and striving for sentences with a greater deterrent effect to be handed down by courts; and enhancing interdepartmental joint operations, with a view to stepping up efforts in combating illegal employment on all fronts.

Established by the Security Bureau in September 2025, the Task Force aims to enhance interdepartmental co-ordination to combat illegal employment under a multipronged approach. After the addition of new members, members of the Task Force include the CEDB, the DEVB, the Education Bureau, the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the Transport and Logistics Bureau, the FEHD, the HAD, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Immigration Department, the Labour Department, the TC and the Transport Department.

Source: AI-found images