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DR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, the putrescible matter in the refuse is only about 28% as mentioned by Dr. LEUNG and yet 100% of the refuse is mixed up and become odourous and smelly. All our RCPs and RCVS are famous in Hong Kong for that bad smell. Since now the primary collectors or private collectors in their preliminary sorting can make 2.2 billion dollars in the retrieval materials, will it not be a case for the Urban Council to insist on this private collectors to come to the RCPs with their refuse well sorted out which is 28% well separated?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I understand that the question is: is it possible for us to insist that the private refuse collectors make the sorting for the putrescible and non-putrescible matters differently? This would involve a great deal of policing and enforcement to force private refuse collectors to do such because what they can sort out from the household refuse will mean money for them and it will be difficult to enforce and to make sure that they will do the sorting for us and handover the valuable and reclaimable material they have sorted out on their own efforts.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I saw a very good film on TV on the 20th anniversary of Earth Day and recycling of waste materials had a prominent position in that film. In my opinion, 28% is not a very good record for the Urban Council. Does the Urban Council plan to do as what has been suggested in this film which in fact causes over 50% of the waste to be recycled?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I understand the meaning that all over the world recycling has been a hot topic. In actual fact, I think Hong Kong has already made a start. As mentioned in the reply, the Environmental, Planning and Lands Branch also has a working committee to encourage recycling in industries. But at the household level, it would be difficult because at the primary source, there is a total mixing up of different types of refuse and it would be a mammoth job to sort out by our own departmental staff. It would need also public education to educate the householders to put different things in different containers for us to do recycling. I opt for recycling but there are practical difficulties in the way we collect the refuse and in the way the refuse is being handed over to us for collection and disposal.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English): -Mr. Chairman, this of course is the point of different collectors. In the film if Dr. LEUNG hasn't seen it, it was shown very prominently that the householder himself or herself sorted out the rubbish and put it into different by coloured containers all alongside each other. I think the Urban Council should do its best to encourage that sort of thing and whether it is a private collector or directly with the Urban Council. Do you agree?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I understand that in some overseas countries there are a lot of kerbside collections, i.e. the authority can refuse collecting your refuse if you don't put out proper type of refuse in front of your house on a certain date. But in Hong Kong because of our living conditions on multi-storey buildings that one block of building would involve thousands of household units, so it would be difficult to refuse collecting them. Secondly, space is another essential matter. If we have different coloured refuse containers in front of your houses which only consist of two hundred sq. ft. per unit, then the space would be another problem in the common corridors. As I said that the co-operation of householders would also be essential for success. We have to educate the householders to co-operate and to put the refuse separately. So far, I think we have succeeded in encouraging the householders to put all their refuse in the plastic containers and keep it in a tidy manner for collections. But to insist them to put a different categories of wastes in different containers would take some time. I think, education is an important element in this process.
DR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I'm glad that Dr. LEUNG did the comparison with Hong Kong's collection and those of the European countries. In Hong Kong, we deal with the private collector who is the agent, we don't deal with the household directly. If the collecting agent can make 2.2 billion dollars in their primary sorting out, would they not do something to separate this 28% for us before they arrive at our RCP? If they are spending dollars on their primary sorting out, would they not do something to make more money, they can always charge the household more. But indeed, they are doing a 2.2 billion dollars business.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I think there is a difference between the agents who earn the 2.2 billion dollars and the private collectors because I don't think they belong to one whole institution or one unit. The private collectors are separate and what they have collected, they will send it to the agents for sale and export. So, the agent does not deal with the household down to the very origin of the refuse. The private collectors would be many multiple of different individuals collecting the valuables to hand it over to the agent for export. It is not the one agent that would look after everything from the very origin when the refuse is generated.
MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I agree with Dr. LEUNG that we need public education to change their attitude and behaviour in treating refuse and also to minimize the volume of refuse. We have had the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign for many years. We started with persuading people not to spit and we have a lot of campaigns every year. Perhaps we should do more now to change people's habits in dealing with refuse and to minimize the volume of refuse. So I hope that Dr. LEUNG can actively study in his committee the way in which the Urban Council can solve the problem through the Keep Hong Kong Clean Steering Committee so that sorting of refuse can be done to a more comprehensive extent and there will be a better prospect for the recycling business. So I wonder if Dr. LEUNG can bring this matter back for discussion at the Keep Hong Kong Clean Steering Committee and let us know the outcome as soon as possible.
(Mr. Dickson K. F. PANG arrived at 2:51 p.m.)
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