TNAG-1858-FCO40-2633-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 242

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

香港立法局

19 July 1989

一九八九年七月十九日

129

bags, bottles, dry battery cells, tins and so on and those that cannot be recycled, like the leftovers of our meals. And we will provide an incentive in the form of offering a price per pound for such recyclable refuse. I remember when I was a little boy, Sir, there used to be a woman coming to the flat once a week and she would buy all newspapers from us. I could not believe it and said to my mother, "She is actually paying money for refuse?" But somehow the idea was not popular any more. I think we should resurrect it. We should encourage the public to put all sorts of recyclable refuse into one bin and then another bin for refuse which is not recyclable. I suggest, Sir, this should be left to the private enterprise because they have more ideas and I think they can make money from it too.

As to the pollution caused by factories, I have heard Members of this Council taking different views and I dare say I was impressed by both. On the one hand we have got speeches from honourable Members that the creators of the pollution must be punished; they must pay and so on. On the other hand I heard speeches that in relation to some cases the factories were there first and the housing estates only moved in subsequently. So what are we to do? One way of course is to give the factory operators more time before they will be required to comply with the law. But I do not think we can wait. I have suggested to this Council when we had a debate earlier this year on the Budget that we should try to cushion the hardship that might befall some of our smaller factory owners or operators by allowing them tax deductions for chemical outlays, for new equipment in order to enable them to comply with our new anti-pollution regulations. I also suggested the setting up of an environmental fund with contributions from the public coffers as well as from industry itself so that low interest loans or even interest free loans might be given to our small factory owners or operators who need financial assistance in order to install the necessary new equipment or to take other necessary measures to comply with the law. These measures, I believe, will alleviate the financial burden of our small factory owners and operators and ought to pave the way for the strict enforcement of our law.

With these remarks, Sir, I support the motion.

SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Sir, this is the first ever debate in this Council on environmental pollution as such. Its subject is the first ever White Paper on pollution. It is a White Paper because it summarizes not ideas or proposals for what Government might do in the future to counteract pollution, but the programmes and projects to which Government is already committed. Its full title is "Pollution in Hong Kong - A Time to Act".