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THE ENVIRONMENT
Ordinance, the Noise Control Ordinance, the Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance, the Dumping at Sea Ordinance and the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance. Most of these laws have subsidiary regulations and other statutory provisions, such as technical memoranda, to give effect to the principal laws.
The Government has adopted a system of environmental quality objectives as a general principle in its pollution control laws. The objectives are set at levels that will meet environmental goals, such as the protection of public health or the preservation of a natural ecosystem. The system aims to achieve the required environmental benefits in the most cost-effective and economically sustainable manner. Limits imposed on polluting emissions are no more stringent or costly than is necessary to achieve the conservation goal, which also makes the maximum safe use of the environment's natural capacity to absorb and recycle wastes.
EPD inspectors made more than 67 000 inspections to enforce control on air, noise, waste and water pollution in 2001. These included regular checks on environmental compliance and investigations of pollution complaints from the community. The enforcement work resulted in more than 1 200 prosecutions and $16 million in fines. To streamline enforcement operation from a customer oriented angle, the EPD has set up multi-skilled teams to deal with all types of pollution problems at any single site inspection.
Apart from law enforcement, the EPD has organised seminars and formed partnerships with various trades such as the construction industry, the catering industry and the vehicle repair trade to promote good environmental practices and compliance with pollution control regulations.
Air Pollution
Air quality in Hong Kong is typical of any large modern city. Diesel smoke and fine dust in the urban areas are the most pressing problems, causing a nuisance and constituting a major health concern. As a result of various measures taken to reduce emissions from motor vehicles, the overall air quality is improving. In 2001, non- compliance with the air quality objectives for particulates and nitrogen dioxide were still recorded in several districts, including the busy city centres such as Causeway Bay, Central and Mong Kok, but the figures have been significantly reduced when compared with previous years.
Hong Kong's objectives for air quality, developed in 1987, are comparable with standards adopted in developed countries at that time. Hong Kong is closely monitoring the latest overseas development on air quality standards.
Many factories and commercial activities produce air-borne emissions. The EPD operates a range of controls under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance and its subsidiary regulations, including specific controls on furnaces and chimneys, dark smoke emissions, fuel quality, open burning, dust emissions from construction works, benzene emission from petrol filling stations and perchloroethylene emission from dry cleaning facilities.
Air pollution arouses much public concern, especially when factories are near homes. In 2001, the department handled 4 647 complaints of air pollution, and issued 215 legal notices instructing offenders to abate air pollution.