Older women are generally the most fervent recyclers, says a new report on global recycling habits that turns on its head the widely-held view that young people are more green than their parents.

In Asia, Hong Kongers recycle more than mainland Chinese and Japanese, but far less than South Koreans.

A report by market-research firm Synovate found that 52% of Hong Kongers said they had recycled waste at home in the past week. In the Asian countries surveyed, 86% of South Koreans said they had, along with 39% in China, 36% in Japan, 15% in India and 5% in Indonesia, which came in last among the 28 countries included in the report. Canada led the rankings, with 88% of respondents saying they had recycled, followed by South Korea, Spain, Belgium and Italy. The U.S., at 10th place, had 66%.

The survey found that Hong Kong women are more likely to recycle than men (61% versus 43%), along with older residents (59% of those age 56-65 had recycled in the past week compared with 37% of those age 16-25). This generally held true for all the countries surveyed, with only Argentina, India and Italy having more males recycling than females. Argentina's youth, along with those in Indonesia, India and Serbia also recycled more than their older counterparts. Synovate said women and older consumers often make the household decisions, giving them greater opportunities to engage in green habits.

Hong Kong has been somewhat late to join global recycling efforts, launching its territorywide domestic recycling plan only in 2005. Though Hong Kong faces a critical waste-management problem─the government expects landfill space to be filled within this decade if waste levels continue at their current rate─its recycling program, run by the Environmental Protection Department, is voluntary rather than mandatory.

As of the end of 2009, the government's latest data, about 67% of Hong Kong's population lived in a building participating in the city recycling program, which encourages residents and housing estates to sort domestic waste for recycling. In 2009 about 35% of domestic waste was recovered, compared with 14% in 2004. The department aims to recover 26% of domestic waste by 2012.

'Clearly, domestic waste has the greatest potential for improvement in terms of recovery and recycling,' the department's 2005-2014 Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste report states, noting that commercial and industrial waste sees recovery rates of 60-70%.

The Synovate survey also found that 21% of Hong Kongers had bought organic food in the past week and 14% had purchased ecologically-friendly products, such as energy-saving light bulbs. Denmark led the way in both of those categories, with 69% buying organic products and59% buying eco-friendly ones.

The survey was conducted between July and September 2010 and surveyed people from ages 16 to 65. Sample sizes for each country ranged from 600 people to 1,200.

人们普遍认为年轻人比他们的父母更注重环保，而一份有关全球垃圾回收习惯的最新报告颠覆了该观点，认为年长女性一般最热衷于循环再利用。

Getty Images香港，等待被回收的废纸。在亚洲，香港人比内地中国人和日本人回收的废品更多，但远不如韩国人。

市场研究公司思纬（Synovate）的一份报告发现，52%的香港人说他们在过去一周回收过家中的废品。在调查的亚洲国家中，86%的韩国人说他们曾回收废品，中国的比例是39%，日本和印度分别为36%和15%，印尼为5%，是报告中28个国家比例最低的。加拿大排名第一，88%的受调查者说他们曾回收过废品，韩国、西班牙、比利时和意大利依次位列其后。美国排名第十，比例为66%。

调查发现，香港女性较男性更倾向于回收废品，比例分别为61%和43%，年长居民回收废品也较多，56至65岁的人过去一周回收废品的占59%，16至25岁的人群比例为37%。调查涵盖的所有国家大体都是如此，除了阿根廷、印度和意大利，这三个国家回收废品的男性比女性多。阿根廷、印尼、印度和塞尔维亚的年轻人也比年长人群回收得多。思纬说，家庭中做决策的往往是女性和年长消费者，因此他们有更多养成环保习惯的机会。

香港加入全球循环再利用行动有些晚，2005年才启动全港家庭垃圾回收计划。香港政府预计，若垃圾量继续以现有速度增长，预计十年内垃圾填埋场就会满。尽管面临如此严峻的垃圾管理问题，但香港环境保护署管理的回收计划是自愿性质的，而非强制执行。该计划鼓励居民和住宅区将家庭垃圾分类以便回收。

香港政府最新数据显示，截止2009年底，香港居住楼房的人口中约67%参与了该城市回收计划。2009年，约35%的家庭垃圾被回收利用，2004年为14%。环保署希望这个比例在2012年达到26%。

环保署在《2005至2014年都市固体废物管理政策大纲》中说，家庭垃圾显然是最有可能在回收和再利用方面进行改善的，并指出商业和工业废物的回收率为60-70%。

思纬的调查还发现，21%的香港人在过去一周买过有机食品，14%的人买过节能灯泡等环保产品。丹麦在这两方面都处于领先，比例分别为69%和59%。

该调查的时间是2010年7月至9月，调查对象为16岁至65岁年龄的人群。每个国家抽样的人数从600至1200人不等。