Hong Kong’s only drinks carton recycler has warned it may stop taking plastic-lined receptacles starting this Saturday if lease negotiations fall apart, after its government-backed landlord broke a week-long silence amid criticisms about smothering the recycling business.

The warning, made by Mil Mill’s executive director Harold Yip Man-ki, came after Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation on Tuesday said it could only give the recycler several more months’ grace period after the extension ends on December 31. Yip added the time was “far from sufficient” for it to prepare for the pulp plant’s departure.

Mil Mill’s executive director Harold Yip.

Albert Wong Hak-keung, the science park’s chief executive, said: “The entire development plan of the Innopark cannot be delayed by just one or two matters, while other things are already in process.”

The site in question refers to a 20,000 sq ft plot in Yuen Long Innopark, previously known as the Yuen Long Industrial Estate, which is administered by the science park.

The science park notified operators of Mil Mill earlier this month that they were required to move out by December 31. The closure of the pulp mill would mean that the city could no longer recycle drinks cartons because no other factories had the ability to process the waste.

Hong Kong currently produces some 67 tonnes of such waste daily, with Mil Mill handling about three tonnes each day.

Drinks cartons, which are encased by layers of polythene and aluminium for water resistance and durability, are considered to have lower profit margins than other reprocessing ventures because additional work is needed to break down the coating.

Mil Mill rented the site in January 2019 on a three-year contract, according to the science park, which in 2021 extended the lease until December.

But Yip said he did not acknowledge the extension was a grace period given to them to pack their bags.

At the recycler’s grand opening in October 2019, Wong was one of the invited guests at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

But in the email sent to Mil Mill in early September, seen by the Post, the science park had neither revealed any reasons for the eviction nor any suggestions on renewing the lease.

On Tuesday, Yip said the science park had failed to provide a clear road map regarding the development which made them feel they had to leave immediately.

“We feel disappointed that the science park didn’t give us and the public a positive response,” Yip said.

“We have to stop taking the cartons three months before our closure. If we must leave by December 31, we have no choice but to stop our operations on October 1, albeit unwillingly.”

Mil Mill is Hong Kong’s only drinks carton recycler.

Mil Mill’s heralded departure came as Singapore, Hong Kong’s long-time financial rival, was said to have invited the company to set up a branch there.

Yip on Tuesday said they had hoped to extend the business to the city state while maintaining the plant in Hong Kong, but they had planned for the worst.

He had also rejected the offer from the city’s environmental authorities of three alternative sites in Cheung Chau, Chai Wan and Stonecutters Island, he added, saying all the options were not suitable.

“Ideal places are hard to come by,” he said.

The Environmental Protection Department said it had contacted both parties to help mediate the dispute, adding it would continue to liaise with Mil Mill and provide information in due course about available sites that would be open for tender.

Chan Kim-ching, a land-use researcher at the Liber Research Community, said the science park’s response had failed to address public concerns about the future of Hong Kong’s recycling businesses.

“The science park has a role to provide small and medium enterprises like Mil Mill with more space, whether it be a factory site or an idle plot,” he said.

According to his research, the science park owns plots of land measuring over a million square feet.

“Although ostensibly, it is a tenancy dispute, it is more about whether there are policies that help the development of small and medium enterprises,” he said.

“The science park might have already scared off investors after they have seen how Mil Mill is being toyed around.”