XN000022-1995-06-16 — Page 7

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Plea to waste collection truck drivers

The Government urged private waste collection truck drivers to refrain from taking any drastic action that would disrupt the disposal of waste at landfills and cause inconvenience to the public including those domestic users of the waste collection service who are exempted from the charging scheme.

A Government spokesman said: "We have already taken into account their views of charging by vehicle class and are prepared to accept an amendment to the Waste Disposal (Charges for Disposal of Waste) Regulation, which will be moved in the LegCo on June 21. This will introduce a parallel system that would enable waste collection operators and truck drivers to choose payment either by vehicle class or by weight of waste on a per tonne basis."

With regard to their concern about upfront payment of landfill charges, the spokesman said: "We have suggested to the Hong Kong Construction Association to introduce an arrangement which would enable construction contractors, as main users of the private waste collection service, to hand over pre-paid tickets to a waste. collector or truck driver.

The spokesman noted that the current scheme was developed after lengthy consultation with the industry since 1993.

"Our charging proposals have been revised to take into account views expressed during the consultation exercise which received wide support of the polluter/user pays principles from all parties including the Hong Kong Construction Association," he said.

The spokesman also pointed out that similar schemes based on polluter/user pays principles are being practised in many places for a long time including Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

The spokesman said: "Charging will only be applicable to waste generated by commerce and industry. Further delay in the implementation would mean that taxpayers would have to continue to foot the bill which came to $600m in 1994. This is clearly unrealistic and must stop."

End/Friday, June 16, 1995