Food waste constitutes a significant portion of the waste sent to landfills in Hong Kong. Since 2005, when Swire Properties installed our first food decomposer at one of our Hong Kong shopping malls, we have been working with our hotels, restaurants and tenants to deepen our food waste reduction and recycling efforts. In 2024, we collected more than 9,200 tonnes of food waste from our Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland portfolios and hotels.

In Hong Kong, Swire Properties continues to promote food waste recycling among tenants. In 2024, 75% of our F&B tenants and 105 tenanted office floors in Citygate Outlets, Cityplaza, Island Place Mall, Pacific Place, South Island Place and Taikoo Place participated in our food waste recycling programme. Most of the food waste collected in our Hong Kong portfolio was sent to the government’s O.PARK1 facility for conversion into biogas and compost.

In 2023, we partnered with the Business Environment Council to conduct comprehensive waste audits at Cityplaza and Citygate. The 20 participating F&B tenants included different types of operators including supermarkets, food courts, Chinese and Western F&B outlets, fast food outlets and coffee shops. Auditors reviewed each tenant’s waste generation quantity, general waste composition and waste contamination conditions, and then provided insights into their actual and potential waste diversion performance, identifying waste management opportunities through reduction, reuse and recycling.

This detailed review revealed that about 80% of general waste currently sent to landfills consisted of recyclables such as food waste, polyfoam boxes, coffee grounds and plastic containers.

In 2024, we leveraged the waste audit insights to strengthen our communication with F&B tenants regarding waste reduction. Portfolio and building management teams organised site inspection to review F&B tenants’ food waste recycling practices and identify any required support (such as providing posters, bins or bags). From May to the end of 2024, 66 F&B tenants were engaged across Citygate Outlets, Cityplaza, Island Place Mall, Pacific Place and Taikoo Place and over 250 visits were carried out.

Building on this momentum, we will engage the Green Council in 2025 to expand the monthly inspection programme, offering more F&B tenants specific advice to enhance waste segregation and recognising them for efforts to reduce and recycle waste.

Another 2024 initiative was a partnership between two of our restaurants, Domain at EAST Hong Kong and Tong Chong Kitchen, and two local food rescue apps. These apps allow F&B outlets to reduce food waste by offering mystery boxes of daily unsold food to consumers at a discount. We also offered discounts in the outlets near closing time to help reduce wastage.

In late 2023, we engaged a new coffee grounds recycling partner, a local green enterprise committed to promoting eco-farming, sustainable organic stewardship of land and food, and healthy lifestyles. Coffee grounds collected from our F&B and office tenants are mixed with other organic waste and transformed into a high-quality organic compost called “MixO’Plus”, which is suitable for various cultivation methods including nursery planting, fruit trees growing, farming, gardening, and landscaping. Over 30 tonnes of coffee grounds have been collected via this partnership so far.

We are exploring opportunities to “close the loop” with this compost. In September, as part of the GPP Academy workshop on biodiversity, we gave out potted plants grown with MixO’Plus organic compost as souvenirs, raising awareness of the programme and encouraging people to take care of nature.

In January, we installed a reverse vending machine at The Loop at Devon House, Taikoo Place, as part of the government’s Reverse Vending Machine ("RVM") Pilot Scheme. Through this machine alone, nearly 11 tonnes of plastics were collected in 2024.

Swire Properties is committed to continuously exploring new partnerships to turn waste into useful resources. This year, we initiated a trial on biochar, or “biocharcoal”, that can improve soil structure, water retention, nutrient use efficiency and microbial habitats, at a planter in the newly opened Taikoo Square. We will monitor the results on soil quality and plant growth, and continue to explore ways to incorporate more organic materials, such as organic compost made from our used coffee grounds and soil conditioner generated by O.PARK1, in our landscaping.

Every year, we work closely with our Residential Sustainability Taskforce, made up of representatives from the 19 residential properties that we currently own or manage, to discuss and calibrate our approach on circularity. In 2024, one estate signed up to the Environmental Protection Department’s (“EPD”) scheme for Food Waste Smart Bins, and six estates enrolled in the EPD Waste Reduction and Recycling Charter which supports the continued enhancement of waste management practices at private residential estates.

By signing the Charter, the estates have committed to work towards: