THE ENVIRONMENT
Seven modern transfer stations and one set of Outlying Island Transfer Facilities (OITF) handle a total of 5 800 tonnes of waste every day. This is mostly domestic waste, and represents around 75 per cent of Hong Kong's total daily domestic waste production. Six of these transfer facilities the stations at Hong Kong Island East and West, West Kowloon, North Lantau and North-West New Territories and the OITF on Ma Wan also provide service to private waste collectors.
Chemical and Special Wastes
Comprehensive controls on the handling and disposal of chemical waste have been in place since 1993. The formerly widespread malpractice of dumping chemical waste into the sewers and surface waters has stopped. All chemical waste producers are required to properly pack, label and store their chemical wastes before disposal at proper treatment facilities. A trip ticket system - involving the waste producers, licensed collectors and licensed disposal points tracks the movement of chemical waste from its origin to final disposal.
A daily average of 144 tonnes of chemical waste, including waste from sea-going vessels, is treated at the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre on Tsing Yi Island, the main treatment facility for chemical waste. A government contractor operates the treatment centre. Waste producers using its services are required to pay part of the
treatment cost.
Clinical Waste
In recognition of the public health risks associated with the improper handling of clinical waste generated by health-care activities, the Government plans to implement legal controls on the handling, collection and disposal of this type of waste. The Government also proposes to modify the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre so that it can receive clinical waste for proper treatment, replacing the current practice of disposing of clinical waste at landfills. The health-care sectors and other related parties have been consulted and they generally supported the proposal. Law drafting is in progress with a view to implementing the controls in 2004.
Large-scale Waste Treatment
No matter how effective it is in dealing with waste prevention and recycling, Hong Kong still needs to handle a large volume of non-recyclable waste. New facilities to treat waste and reduce its volume will have to be put in place, accordingly. Such facilities would need to meet the highest international environmental standards and be cost-effective. In April 2002, the Government invited the local and international waste management industries to express their interest in proposing latest technologies for the development of large-scale waste treatment facilities in Hong Kong. An Advisory Group has been set up to assist the Government in considering the proposals received on various waste treatment technologies. However, even with such large-scale waste treatment facilities, there are residual wastes that must be handled safely. Hence, Hong Kong will continue to require landfills for final disposal of waste.
Import and Export of Waste
Controls on the import and export of waste under the Waste Disposal Ordinance (WDO) came into operation on September 1, 1996. A ban on the importation of hazardous waste from developed countries (mainly of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union) was introduced on
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