XN000022-1996-07-03 — Page 45

Reply:

- 23

Mr President,

(a) The Government's overall objective of waste management is to reduce waste at source, to promote reuse and recycling and to ensure that what remains is disposed of in an environmentally cost-effective manner. To this end, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) provides technical support and information to organisers of waste reduction and recovery programmes, as well as to waste collectors and recyclers. EPD has also introduced a hotline service (Tel No. 2755 2750) to advise the public on the setting up of waste collection schemes to recover recyclable materials such as waste paper and aluminium cans. A pamphlet containing details on how to organise a waste paper separation and collection scheme in residential buildings and office premises has also been printed for distribution to the public.

(b)

(c)

To further promote waste reduction, a consultancy study commissioned by EPD has recently recommended a number of waste reduction initiatives, including measures to facilitate more waste recovery and recycling. We are consulting interested parties on these recommendations to enable us to formulate a waste reduction plan for Hong Kong for further consultation with the public later in the year.

The Housing Department has set up waste recycling programmes in all four housing estates in Tseung Kwan O with the assistance of the Friends of the Earth and EPD. In 1995, about 168 tonnes of paper, 60 tonnes of ferrous metals, 4.4 tonnes of aluminium cans and 1.5 tonnes of PET bottles were recovered from the four estates.

Waste recycling programmes similar to those in Tseung Kwan O are being carried out in over 50 public housing estates and over a thousand private establishments, including schools, commercial offices, banks, hotels and utility companies. Moreover, the Housing Department has included in all new cleansing contracts a requirement that a "salvaging operative" be appointed to deal with waste recovery activities in the estate in question. So far about one-third of public housing estates in Hong Kong have been provided with a "salvaging operative". The further extension of waste recycling programmes to the community as a whole will be addressed in the Waste Reduction Plan mentioned in (a) above.

End