In its annual report on Macau’s environmental state for last year published yesterday, the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) says that after a drop of around 20 percent in 2020 from 2019, the total volume of solid waste generated in the city last year increased 3.6 percent from 2020.
According to the report, Macau disposed of 453,152 tonnes of solid waste last year, a 3.6 percent increase from 2020 when 437,592 tonnes were dumped.
Last year, each person disposed of on average 1.82 kilogrammes of solid waste per day in Macau, a 4.6 percent rise from 2020 when the figure was 1.74.
“Due to a significant decline in tourism activities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the total volume of solid waste that was disposed of in Macau in 2020 dropped around 20 percent from 2019. However, with the gradual recovery of the city’s socioeconomic activities, the solid waste volume saw an increase again in 2021, at 3.6 percent,” the report says.
The report also says that “although the disposal volume of solid waste per capita in Macau has been decreasing over the past two years, it is still relatively high compared to some cities in neighbouring regions”.
While each person disposed of 1.74 kilogrammes of solid waste per day on average in Macau in 2020, the figures in the same year were 1.44 kg in Hong Kong, 1.37 kg in Singapore, 1.00 kg in Beijing, 0.95 kg in Shanghai, and 0.89 kg in Guangzhou.
In addition, Macau’s electricity and water consumption also increased last year from 2020, 5.0 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the report also says that with the implementation of the government’s charging scheme on the disposal of construction waste early last year, the total volume of construction waste that was disposed of in the city’s only construction waste landfill in east Cotai last year dropped 29.8 percent from 2020.
