Hong Kong's Zero-COVID Policy Even Causes Mountains Of Plastic Waste, Quarantine Hotels To Be In The Spotlight

Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village, Hong Kong's largest COVID-19 quarantine facility. (Wikimedia Commons/Studio Incendo)

JAKARTA - Don't be surprised if you visit Hong Kong today, you will find plastic everywhere when you are in quarantine hotels. Remote controller wrapped in plastic, pillow wrapped in plastic, food comes with plastic cutlery.

Hong Kong's strict quarantine policy, meant to stop COVID-19 at the border and in society, has been criticized for damaging the economy and mental health.

Not only that, the strict policy was also criticized by environmentalists, assessing the condition as damaging the environment by producing excess waste.

"Every staff member here wears full PPE. Protective suits, gloves, boots, hats, and that's every staff member and on every floor," said Hong Kong-based skincare entrepreneur Clementine Vaughan, who flew to Hong Kong on Sunday. April 4, as reported by Reuters April 19.

"The phone, you know, the remote control, everything is wrapped in plastic," he continued speaking to Reuters from his quarantine hotel.

Hong Kong dumps more than 2,300 tonnes of plastic waste every day, and with a recycling rate of just 11 per cent, according to government figures, most of it goes to landfills.

A government spokesman said officials were aware of the surge in single-use waste since COVID began, urging people to adopt a green lifestyle as far as possible.

Separately, Edwin Lau, with local environmental group The Green Earth, said Hong Kong's approach to COVID reflects a lack of environmental awareness.

"People staying in quarantine hotels, they are not confirmed cases," Lau said, urging the government to allow recycling or reuse of plastics from quarantine facilities.

Hong Kong, one of the few places holding a zero-COVID policy, has quarantined tens of thousands of people this year in facilities for COVID-positive people and close contacts.

Quarantine facilities compounded the waste problem, with residents confirming to Reuters all food came in plastic bags.

As for Paul Zimmerman, an elected district councilor, said the facility is also wasteful because it cannot be used in the long term, such as for public housing.

"They have been built very quickly (and are not) according to certain building standards that we have in Hong Kong," he said.