HEALTH
down when local conditions warrant. Hawker areas and refuse collection points are washed regularly.
There are 2 640 refuse collection points in the territory, with 1 466 bin sites in the New Territories. During the year, four permanent off-street refuse collection points were completed in the urban area. Two are in Mong Kok District, at Mong Kok Road and Bedford Road. The refuse collection point at Third Street, in Western District, was funded by the Land Development Corporation. The one at Hok Yuen Street, in Kowloon City District, is equipped with a water scrubber system, a much more effective de-odourising ventilation system than that used previously. The new system is now the standard for all other refuse collection points currently under construction or under planning. Refuse collection vehicles, equipped with compacting devices, call at refuse collection points up to three times daily to convey refuse to transfer stations and an incinerator for disposal.
About 5 204 tonnes of refuse and junk are collected daily, including 124 tonnes removed from outlying islands by a contractual barging service. Desludging services are provided free for public aqua privies and septic tanks. This service is provided for private facilities on a charge basis upon request. A daily nightsoil collection service is also provided free-of charge to areas without a water-borne sewage system.
In a further effort to improve environmental hygiene, the Regional Services Department started night collection of market refuse in Tai Po and Sai Kung in May. This service will be extended in phases to other districts upon the commissioning of more refuse transfer stations.
Eleven public toilets were renovated under the Urban Council's public toilet refurbish- ment programme. The programme aims to provide well-lit, clean and well-managed public conveniences. A total of 37 toilets have been refurbished over the past three years and the programme will continue until all old-style toilets have been modernised.
The two departments continued to contract-out some of the cleansing services to private contractors, to reduce the direct involvement of departmental labour and enhance cost-effectiveness. In the urban area, the contracts covered 201 public toilets and bathhouses; and manual street-sweeping of Tai Kok Tsui, part of Wan Chai, and two squatter villages. The waste collection service in Tai Po township was contracted-out for a period of five years commencing in May. Meanwhile, the contracting-out of street cleansing was introduced in Kwai Tsing, and extended to Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Tai Po and Sha Tin in July. This was followed by the contracting-out of cleansing in remote areas in Sai Kung in September. The overall exercise brought significant savings and enabled the Regional Council to retrench some 530 staff. The performance of the contractors is closely monitored by supervisory staff.
The Regional Services Department commissioned two market research companies to conduct opinion surveys in areas where street cleansing was newly contracted-out, before and after the commencement of contracts. With the findings of the surveys as general guidelines, further proposals for the contracting-out of refuse collection and street cleansing will be explored.
During the year, the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign, organised by the Joint Urban Council/Regional Council Keep Hong Kong Clean Steering Committee, marked its 21st anniversary. In order to spread the 'keep clean' message throughout the year, the steering committee mounted a six-phase clean-up programme, covering the environment; water areas; roads; homes; squatter areas and villages; and the countryside and country
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