Fortune REIT also embraced the Hong Kong SAR Government’s initiatives to reduce waste. The Reverse Vending Machine from the Recycling Fund was installed at eight Fortune Malls in the second-half of 2023. There was an overwhelming response from our shoppers with over 83.38 tonnes of plastic bottles collected during the Reporting Year. Other waste reduction initiatives rolled out include the installation of food waste compost machines in two of its malls, as well as a program for shoppers to exchange Fortune+ points for reusable cups.

Tackling Food Waste

At present, Hong Kong faces a food waste catastrophe with food waste from restaurants and wet markets disposed at landfill. Food waste constitutes about 30% of Hong Kong’s landfill. Besides unnecessarily filling up our limited landfill, when food waste decomposes, it produces methane, which is more damaging to climate change than carbon dioxide. To tackle this issue, the Environmental Protection Department unveiled its Food Waste Management Strategy. This strategy involves reduction at source, food donation, food waste collection and recycling at facilities.

As part of a pilot scheme, food waste collection was rolled out in Fortune Metropolis to collect food waste from food and beverage tenants since December 2022. Due to the positive response from tenants, Fortune Malls expanded the pilot scheme at eight other Fortune Malls. During 2023, 260.7 tonnes of food waste was collected.

Dedicated bins were used to separate food waste, and the collected food waste will be transformed into energy at O-PARK1. O-PARK1 is a renewable energy generation plant which turns waste into energy. It is the first organic resources recovery centre in Hong Kong which adopts anaerobic digestion technology to convert food waste into biogas for electricity generation. The residue by-product from this process can be produced as compost for landscaping and agricultural use.

The food waste pilot scheme serves as an example of how Fortune Malls utilises its platform to promote sustainable practices, actively collaborating with tenants to create a greener future.