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Following is a question by the Hon Helena Wong Pik-wan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (November 14):
Question:
It has been reported that a supermarket was recently found to have dumped food which was still edible in the refuse room after it closed at night. Moreover, a Member of this Council asked a question on June 27, 2012, enquiring whether the Government had made reference to the relevant legislation on food donation in overseas places to formulate exemption clauses for food donors. However, the Government did not respond to that question. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the quantity of edible food dumped by supermarkets in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by the names of the supermarkets;
(b) of the reasons why it did not respond to the above-mentioned question; whether the Government has made reference to relevant legislation on food donation in overseas places to formulate legislation with exemption clauses for food donors (e.g. excluding the liability of the donors in case the beneficiaries feel sick after consuming the food), so as to encourage food donation; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; of the measures taken to encourage more supermarkets to implement a regular food donation mechanism, and to help beneficiary organisations to collect and handle the food;
(c) whether it knows the details about those major local chain supermarkets which regularly donate edible food to people in need, including the names and number of those supermarkets, and the names and number of those beneficiary organisations, the quantity of food and the modes of operations of the donation programmes; of the details about those supermarkets which are currently discussing food donation with people in need, and the implementation timetables of their donation programmes;
(d) given that, in its reply to the above mentioned question, the Government had indicated that "The Environment Bureau (ENB) has also particularly contacted the major chain supermarkets urged the supermarket trade to review its practice of handling individual types of food wish that the supermarkets can actively consider collaborating with non-profit-making organisations in different areas. ENB is willing to line up with suitable organisation to facilitate such collaboration", of the names of the supermarkets which the authorities have contacted so far; whether it knows if those supermarkets continue to dump edible food; if so, of the follow-up actions taken by the authorities; whether the authorities have taken the initiatives to contact non-profit-making organisations in need to understand these organisations﷿ modes of operations, so as to promote collaboration between supermarkets and non-profit-making organisations; and
(e) whether the Government has considered providing tax concessions to food donors, prohibiting the disposal of edible food in landfills or imposing special levies for such disposal; if it has, of the details and work progress?
Reply
President,
(a) & (b) We have no relevant data on the edible food dumped by supermarkets each year. In response to the report about the dumping of edible food by supermarkets, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has written to a number of chain supermarkets, bakeries and hotels to provide them with information on recipients of food donations and encourage them to donate food which is about to expire but is still edible. It will also assist those non-profit-making recipients to establish links with more supermarkets and the relevant trades. In addition, information on those recipients has been uploaded to EPD's website to encourage food donations.
As the donated food is not for sale, it is not subject to control under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance. Nevertheless, we note that under current food donation programmes, donors and recipients are able to work out through negotiation the relevant arrangements in respect of liability and food safety. As such, the concern of food donors about any potential liability that may arise from food donations can be overcome. An appropriate mechanism developed through practice would enable edible leftovers to be donated to people in need. As such, the Government has no plan to formulate legislation with exemption clauses for food donors regarding the liability for food safety.
(c) At present, individual major supermarkets have started food donation programmes at some of their branches on a trial basis. They have donated food which was about to expire but was still edible to recipients of food donations such as Food Angel and Feeding Hong Kong.
It is understood that supermarkets which have launched food donation programmes donate regularly, on a daily basis, fresh vegetables and fruits or canned food which is about to expire, depending on the circumstances. Some supermarkets donate on a non-regular basis a whole lot of food which is visually less appealing or about to expire but is still edible. The food selected by the supermarkets for donation is picked up directly by the recipients at the supermarkets or delivered to the centres of the recipients by the supermarkets. After processing, fresh food is generally used to prepare lunch boxes. The remaining food is stored in the centres for later use or directly distributed to people in need.
We understand that supermarkets which have launched food donation programmes will continue to look into expanding the varieties of food for donation and the number of branches to be involved. Their aim is to donate more food which is about to expire to people in need and minimise food waste.
(d) Earlier on the EPD had met with the four major chain supermarkets, namely, Parknshop, Wellcome, China Resources Vanguard and Jusco. There was an exchange of views on the possible options to minimise dumping of food, and the supermarkets were encouraged to donate food which was about to expire but was still edible. We also encourage supermarkets to minimise leftovers by various means, such as promotional sales, strengthening management of the supply chain and avoidance of over procurement. As for the inevitable generation of food unfit for consumption, we recommend that supermarkets go for separation and recycling as far as possible. An example is composting of expired food.
In addition, the EPD had met with recipients of food donations such as Food Angel, Feeding Hong Kong and Foodlink Foundation Limited in order to understand the mode of operation of food donation programmes, the detailed arrangements and the issue of liability as far as the operators and donors were concerned. We will provide assistance and promote food donation programmes to the relevant trades by various means. The aim is to enhance different sectors' understanding of food donation and minimise food waste.
(e) Changing measures such as tax concessions to food donors or prohibiting the dumping of food in landfills involve tax principle and may have a far-reaching effect on the disposal of different sources of waste (including food). We consider that it is not appropriate to hastily adopt. The EPD will continue to step up its various efforts in waste reduction at source. It also plans to report to the Legislative Council the result of the public consultation on waste charging with a recommendation on the way forward by the end of the year.
Ends/Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:54
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