THE ENVIRONMENT
The government is planning to apply the 'polluter pays' principle and recover the cost of providing landfills from waste producers. The charging scheme will cover all waste disposed of at landfills by private waste collectors.
Refuse Transfer Stations
As part of the waste disposal strategy, a network of refuse transfer stations is being developed. Waste collected in major urban centres of population will be delivered to the refuse transfer stations for compaction into sealed containers and onward transportation in bulk to the three remote landfills (WENT, SENT and NENT).
Three of these refuse transfer stations at Kowloon Bay, Island East and Sha Tin — are already operational and currently handle a total of about 3 750 tonnes of refuse every day.
A study into the feasibility of building an underground transfer station in a rock cavern site on western Hong Kong Island was commissioned in 1992. Detailed planning of this underground transfer station has been completed and tenders are being assessed. The station is expected to be operational in 1997. Consultancy studies for refuse transfer stations for the outlying islands, Northwest New Territories, North Lantau and West Kowloon are progressing well and have target operational dates of 1997.
Chemical and Special Wastes
The chemical waste treatment centre has been in service since April 1993. The centre collects and treats chemical waste generated by about 8 850 waste producers. Currently, it processes about 280 tonnes of chemical waste every day.
The running costs of the centre will be recovered from its users through a direct charging scheme. It is intended that the charging scheme will be introduced in 1995.
With the coming into force of the chemical waste regulations, all chemical waste producers must properly store and dispose of their chemical wastes. A trip ticket system involving the waste producers, licensed collectors and licensed disposal points, tracks the movement of chemical waste from the point of origin to the point of final disposal. Most of the chemical waste goes to the treatment centre but some, such as asbestos, is sent to landfills for disposal.
The asbestos waste action plan, introduced in 1990, has been replaced by statutory control under the Waste Disposal (Chemical Waste) (General) Regulation, ensuring that waste producers and disposal contractors follow safety guidelines in the code of practice on asbestos waste.
Under a five-year trial, treated sludge from the waterworks and sewage treatment works at Sha Tin are disposed of at sea some 15 kilometres east of Waglan Island. Approximately 40 000 cubic metres of sludge is dispersed every month at the disposal ground, which was selected after detailed study. Monitoring of the water, marine sediment quality and biotic community at the spoil ground is continuing, to provide an assessment of any impact on the environment.
A study of the long-term arrangements for the disposal of waterworks and sewage sludge was completed. The study recommended dewatering and landfilling of the sludge.
Marine disposal was considered to be the most economical means but the acceptability of this would depend on the results of the five-year marine disposal trial which commenced in 1991.
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