A long-awaited waste-charging scheme is expected to come into force by the end of the year as planned, Hong Kong’s environment chief has said, but green groups have raised concerns over relaxations to the tender requirements for the supply of special rubbish bags.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan on Saturday said the government would focus on publicity and education instead of punishment when implementing the scheme in the hopes of inspiring behavioural change in society.

Tse was commenting on a decision made by the Environmental Protection Department in November last year to cancel an open tender for a manufacturing contract for the rubbish bags, to be used under the scheme.

Environmental authorities explained earlier that they had found the price quoted in all of the bids to be higher than expected, so they cancelled the tender to ensure public resources would be prudently used. Some green groups predicted the cancellation would delay the scheme for at least six months.

But Tse said the contract would be offered again soon and its criteria had been modified to ensure a timely completion.

“Previously, we required [the contractor] to set up a factory in Hong Kong, which would take time. Now we have cancelled this requirement,” he told a radio programme.

“Although there will be another tender, the overall time frame should be similar. We are confident waste charging will be implemented within this year.”

In an attempt to lower the cost, the new tender only requires each rubbish bag to be made of at least 20 per cent recycled materials, down from the earlier 50 per cent.

Additionally, manufacturers no longer need to maintain a minimum 30-day inventory of the bags.

But the changes have sparked concern among green groups, which argue that the relaxed requirements will not help strengthen the development of the local recycling industry.

Tse said an existing waste collection programme had already increased the processing capacity of downstream recycling facilities and therefore the location of the rubbish bag manufacturer was “no longer crucial”.

Since 2020, the pilot programme has provided non-industrial plastic recycling services at housing estates and residential buildings for free, taking plastic bags, receptacles, straws and utensils. It was extended to half of the city’s 18 districts in 2021, including Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan and Tai Po.

The municipal waste charging scheme is intended to motivate the public to cut waste by charging households for disposal, with authorities describing the plan as a driving force that could fuel the downstream recycling industry.

The bill for the scheme, passed in the Legislative Council in August 2021, requires residents to buy one of 11 types of garbage bags of varying sizes produced and sold by the government. The smallest can hold 3 litres (100 ounces), and the largest has a capacity of 100 litres.

The charge is set at 11 HK cents per litre, meaning residents have to pay at least 33 HK cents for the smallest bag.

Hahn Chu Hon-keung, the director of environmental advocacy at The Green Earth, said he understood why the government had made changes to the scheme, but it was still a step back.

“Boosting the development of the local recycling industry was part of the scheme’s goals,” he said. “If the factory is set up on the mainland or elsewhere, we can’t achieve that because it will hire mainlanders but not Hongkongers.

“If we lower the bar, the plant will certainly not be in Hong Kong.”

Chu said a recycling plant outside the city would not address local plastic waste issues because many places, including mainland China, had banned the import of outside garbage.

He suggested authorities create more incentives to entice recyclers into staying in the city, such as giving those who stayed a higher chance of winning the bid.

Environment chief Tse also spoke about the loss of roughly three tonnes of recycled drinks cartons which were gathered between April and December last year at a public recycling station in Kwun Tong, saying authorities would issue warnings and impose penalties.

Government contractor Baguio Waste Management and Recycling, which was commissioned to deliver the cartons to a recycling mill, was earlier found to have failed to handle the recyclables as promised.

On Friday, Baguio said it had delivered the cartons to a third party, without mentioning how the boxes had been handled.

The Environmental Protection Department said it had immediately ordered the operators of the recycling station in Kwun Tong, as well as other centres to stop passing cartons to Baguio.