HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
香港立法局
19 July 1989
一九八九年七月十九日
90
objectives are to reduce the demand on the limited space available at landfill disposal sites and restrict the generation of wastes that give rise to litter problems".
Incentive should be given to the recycling industry to collect separated household waste, similar to practices in parts of the United States where aluminium drink cans, beer bottles and plastic containers all have deposits charged on sale and refunded upon their return for recycling. In Hong Kong, people are still largely unaware of rubbish saving at source. They should be encouraged to consume less unnecessary items such as elaborate packaging. At the same time the idea of starting bottle banks, battery banks and plastic bag banks should be actively pursued by the Government, the Urban and Regional Councils.
Enforcement/compliance
All the White Paper proposals are only good intentions unless clear and strong legislation is enacted and rigidly enforced.
Very little has been said in the White Paper about setting tolerable standards of pollution to be achieved by definite target dates. These standards should be regularly reviewed and updated where necessary. Such enforcement of target performance measures should have been highlighted in the White Paper and not relegated to Appendix B of the Environmental Protection Department 1988 Review. This treatment given to a most important aspect of the entire pollution control programme leaves me with a distinct feeling that there is less than full commitment by the Government.
While the White Paper acknowledges the inadequacy of existing inspection measures, the Environmental Protection Department has not been equipped with the necessary powers nor resources for effective implementation of its major development plans. A new department with no teeth gives rise to doubts about Government's sincerity in translating the White Paper into concrete action.
Obviously, the Government is still at the early stages of assessing the environmental impact of pollution on our everyday living. If it still adopts the traditional approach to Hong Kong's huge waste control problem and only pays lip service to the enforcement of legislation, it will not be leading Hong Kong's campaign against pollution.
If we are really serious about pollution, we have to be much more committed in our investment, not only in disposal facilities, but also in educating