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MR. SAMUEL WONG (in English):—Then another question is, why does it take so long for someone to discover that it takes so much money to develop the site?
MR. Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, the consultant came up with a scheme for development of this area that turned out to be quite expensive with the estimated cost in those days at over $20 million. After being asked to revise that, another scheme was prepared which reduced to about 15 odd million dollars, but that was still considered to be far too expensive.
MRS. CHOW (in English):—Mr. Chairman, can I ask Mr. Lo whether he knows the reason that the Recreation Select Committee decided not to develop the site was mainly or primarily because of the steep topography of the site and therefore, the saving in cost is not going to change, that particular reason really means that that site is not very suitable for a park to be situated.
MR. Lo (in English):—That's quite correct, Mr. Chairman.
MRS. CHOW (in English):—Then, it leads us to Mr. BERNACCHI's second question, whether this ought to be referred back to the Select Committee. I would imagine that would be quite unnecessary.
MR. Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I am at a loss what to do. If I pleased Mr. BERNACCHI, I offend Mrs. CHOW. (laughter)
10. MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG asked the following question (in Cantonese):—The recent introduction to Hong Kong of disposable glass containers for carbonated drinks should be seriously looked at from an environmental viewpoint; the handy size of these bottles encourages their use on picnics and visits to the beach; their fragility makes them impossible to reuse and the plastic coating prevents attempts to recycle the glass.
What actions would the Urban Council contemplate to discourage the use of these 'single-trip' bottles?
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):—This question asks what action the Council would contemplate to discourage the use of 'single-trip' bottles.
The Council's responsibility in this area is two-fold. First, as the Collection Authority, it is responsible for the collection of domestic waste (which includes these bottles) and its transportation for disposal. Secondly, as manager of many recreational facilities, it is responsible for their safety and cleanliness.
At the present time, 'single-trip' bottles have given the Council no additional problems either as regards collection of waste or management of facilities. Some indeed are collected for recycling. But new types are being introduced which are not recyclable and these could create problems. But up to the present moment, we have no problem as yet.
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MR. SAMUEL WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Dr. HUANG something concerning the 'single-trip' bottles. Can we follow the practice in North America and ask people to pay a deposit so that they would definitely return the bottles and that the bottles could be returned to the manufacturers?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):—I think we need legislation on this. The reason is, in the past, we asked people to pay deposits on glass bottles and now they are making this sort of bottle in order to save that particular trouble. So if you want to ask them to pay deposits, I think some sort of legislation is necessary.
MR. SULKE (in English):—Would you follow the example of several other countries which have banned this type of returnable bottle?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, basically, this is a question which concerns not only the Urban Council. In fact, industrialists, merchants, and also waste disposal organizations should also co-operate because merchants, for instance, may find it more convenient and cheaper to take the alternative method. However, we are concerned with the environmental problems, and we should have legislation to back us up. Therefore, if we want to ban the use of this kind of bottle, it is not impossible, but we must have legislation.
MR. YOUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I believe not too many years ago, the Urban Services Department did in fact study the scheme just mentioned regarding compulsory deposits in order to try to recover some social cost of these containers. Although it was dropped at the time when it was discovered that tins and other things would cause no problem; should there be a problem now, would the Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee consider firstly, resurrecting the studies on that scheme to see whether it could be put into effect for this type of bottle only, and secondly, could the Chairman consider the Urban Services Department now making enquiries with the manufacturers concerned to see to what extent these bottles are being returned or properly disposed of or being discarded haphazardly throughout the urban areas?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):—I will reflect Mr. YOUNG's opinion to the committee.
MR. SULKE (in English):—Could I suggest that we also refer the matter to the Chairman of E.P.C.O.M.?
DR. HUANG (in English):—I am not quite clear what you said.
MR. SULKE (in English):—I am sorry, could I suggest that you also refer the matter to the Chairman of E.P.C.O.M.
DR. HUANG (in English):—Yes, with pleasure.
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