The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department is set to remove half of the bins in country parks by the end of this year to discourage the public from disposing of their trash at parks and trails.

The department began implementing the first phase of the “Take Your Litter Home” programme in a number of country parks last September, and found that the amount of trash collected in five of the locations where rubbish and recycling bins were removed had fallen by at least 70 per cent, RTHK reported.

File Photo: 保衞郊野公園 via Facebook.

The second phase, which is to commence next month, involves the removal of 256 bins before the end of the year. The matter will be discussed at a Country and Marine Parks Board meeting on Friday.

Fong Tze-kwan, senior project director at environmental group Greeners Action, said that it supports the idea behind the scheme but warned against a one-size-fits-all approach, urging the government to take into consideration the public’s level of acceptance and roll out the scheme gradually.

The Green Earth advocacy director Chu Hong-keung said he did not worry that the scheme would backfire and result in country parks being littered with trash, as the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department had educated the public on the scheme before implementing the first phase – unlike when the new “small hole” rubbish bins were introduced, Oriental Daily reported.