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litter is scattered all around. As far as I understand, litter containers are just to facilitate passers-by to deposit some small objects such as tissue papers inside. If members of the public are taking all their household garbage to the containers, no matter how we increase the size of the container, the same problem still exists. So I wonder whether Mr. PAO can think of any effective method to stop people from depositing bulky objects inside or outside litter containers.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, according to law, if residents deposit household waste to the litter containers, they are not violating laws because as I said the definition of waste is very wide. As to whether we need to recommend to the concerned authorities for amendment of laws, I think we need to balance our views. We must not forget how crowded the living conditions are in a lot of residential buildings in Hong Kong. If we do not let people deposit their rubbish in on-street litter containers, then I don't know where they can put their rubbish. The basic point is to let the public know that on-street litter containers are just to facilitate passers-by to deposit small objects. They are not used for household garbage. I hope that the residents should take note of this point and I will certainly ask the PIU of the Department to do some publicity work to put across this message to members of the public.
MR. CHAN TAK-CHOR (in Cantonese):―Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As far as I know, I have raised this problem in our annual debate 1990. The reply given was that it was an offence if residents deposited their household garbage in litter containers and the maximum fine was $10,000. In fact, this problem has been in existence for quite some time. I really hope that Chairman of the Public Health Select Committee can follow up on this issue to stop people from taking household garbage to litter containers.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I think there must be some misunderstanding concerning the definition of waste. I will ask the Department to give us an information paper concerning the definition of waste and which type of waste could be deposited in litter containers. In principle, I agree with Mr. CHAN if people are in breach of our laws, how we step up our prosecution action needs to be further considered. In the long term, I hope that the Department should seriously discuss with other relevant departments to improve the Building Management Ordinance which indirectly affects our work in this area.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YEUK-SUET (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, concerning the penalty, Mr. PAO has just mentioned that the dog owners would be fined and probably imprisoned. I wonder whether we can add something to the law that apart from imprisonment of the dog owners, the dogs should also be imprisoned. I think this will have a greater deterrent effect. The second question is: I wonder whether we can do something more in health education. Perhaps we can have some publicity for dog owners associations or dog clubs that dog owners have to bring plastic bags or newspapers with them when they take dogs for strolls. This is a very practical suggestion. If they discover the dogs have to answer the call of nature, they can use the plastic bags to collect the excrement. The third point is: since the dog owners and the general public are not so in favour of dog latrines, under your leadership, Mr. Chairman, the UC is improving our public toilets, I wonder whether we can think of other methods to beautify dog latrines to make them more attractive to dog owners and also more acceptable to the public.
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have to bring plastic bags or newspapers with them when they take dogs for strolls. This is a very practical suggestion. If they discover the dogs have to answer the call of nature, they can use the plastic bags to collect the excrement. The third point is: since the dog owners and the general public are not so in favour of dog latrines, under your leadership, Mr. Chairman, the UC is improving our public toilets, I wonder whether we can think of other methods to beautify dog latrines to make them to be more attractive to dog owners and also to be more acceptable to the public.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, because of two different questions in my answer, some confusion may arise. If people deposit litter outside litter containers, they may be liable to imprisonment in addition to a fine. But for dog owners violating the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances (Urban Council) By-Laws, the maximum penalty is only a fine, and no imprisonment is imposed. The second question asked by Mr. CHAN whether we could step up public health education and improve the design of dog latrines, would certainly be taken up by our Select Committee.
MR. AMBROSE CHEUNG WING-SUM (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to respond to the answer given by Mr. PAO concerning the extension of operating hours of refuse collection points. I also understand that if we want to extend the opening hours of the refuse collection points, there will be some operational, financial, and manpower implications and it is rather a complicated issue, but there were really cases in which self-disciplined members of the public who took and deposited garbage in front of the closed RCPs were subsequently prosecuted. Of course, this is right but I hope that the Public Health Select Committee can really consider making some special arrangements, for example, placing some big plastic containers outside the refuse collection points so that residents can still place the garbage within the containers even though the RCPs are closed.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHEUNG has made a very good suggestion. Of course, these containers must have covers but according to my experience, sometimes residents do not like the refuse to be left for too long in or around these RCPs but certainly we will think of some ways to improve the situation and to make better arrangements for residents to deposit their household garbage inside those containers which should be covered and without emitting any smell. This suggestion will be considered in our Select Committee together with departmental staff.
MR. SAN STEPHEN WONG HON-CHING (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Mr. PAO has just said that there are about 11,000 litter containers on the street, and that the Department is planning to increase the capacity of these litter containers from 85-litre to 100-litre or 150-litre. This can of course reduce the dumping of litter outside the containers. In Wanchai District, my constituency, I have received a lot of complaints as Ms. TANG said that these containers are overflown. Of
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