THE ENVIRONMENT
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Waste recovery continues to play an important role in waste management, resulting in the export of substantial quantities of recovered waste materials for remanufacturing outside Hong Kong. In all, about 1.7 million tonnes of waste materials including waste paper, metals and plastic were exported in 2002, generating export earnings of about $2 billion.
Waste prevention and recovery has been the Government's main focus in tackling the waste problem. The Government introduced a package of initiatives in 2001 to further promote waste prevention and recycling and has been making progress in this regard.
Landfill charging is an important element in the waste management strategy adopted in Hong Kong. It can provide economic incentives for waste producers to reduce waste and to carry out sorting to facilitate re-use and recycling which will, in turn, help conserve landfill capacity. The Government intends to start levying a landfill charge on construction and demolition waste in the first phase, and to implement the charging scheme in 2004.
Landfills
All municipal solid waste is disposed of at three large modern landfills in the New Territories. Specialist waste management contractors operate these landfills to high environmental standards.
The community disposed of about 9 420 tonnes of municipal solid wastes every day. Of this, 7 540 tonnes comprised domestic waste and 880 tonnes comprised commercial and industrial waste. On average, each person in Hong Kong disposed of about 1.39 kilograms of municipal solid waste daily in 2002.
Rapid development in Hong Kong over the past decade has contributed to a dramatic increase in the amount of construction and demolition (C&D) material. On average, some 43 300 tonnes of such material were generated every day and about 80 per cent of it was re-used in reclamation projects. Material unsuitable for reclamation purposes, amounting to about 10 200 tonnes daily, was sent to landfills for disposal. The current three landfills will have a remaining lifespan of only nine to 14 years. The Government will soon complete a study to explore the extension potential of the existing landfills and to identify potential new landfill locations. The study includes assessments on environmental performance, socio-economic impacts and technical feasibility of different options. Planning work will proceed after completion of this study.
Hong Kong has 13 old landfills. For safety and environmental reasons, restoration measures have been taken at these landfills, and restoration of 12 of them is completed. It is intended to restore the last landfill, the Pillar Point Valley landfill, by late 2005. After full restoration, the sites may be used primarily for community and recreational activities.
Refuse Transfer Stations
The network of refuse transfer stations forms an important component of the Government's waste disposal facilities. Waste collected in urban centres is delivered to these stations, where it is compacted into sealed containers for delivery to the three landfills.