Page 110 of 237
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. FORSGATE:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the Director of Public Works for his full, informative reply. In short, the answer to my question about the efficiency of the incinerating apparatus is that it is not up to scratch. It dropped about 13% in comparison with what was estimated by the makers. As apparently some of this was due to our methods of collection, could the Director of Urban Services instruct his staff to revert to the previous method of picking out the incombustible material which is presenting a problem?
CHAIRMAN:-As far as I know, there is still a lot of picking out of bottles and other things by the staff.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-Mr. Chairman, I wonder if I may explain here, until the last few years you hardly ever found a bottle or a tin in refuse. Your amahs used to pick them all out, they used to pick out all the newspapers and other things. They are becoming more affluent, they no longer seem to be interested in picking out every bottle and tin, and I think possibly the same thing may go for the refuse collectors themselves. They used to have a business of picking out bottles and tins, but the fact now is the number of bottles and tins and plastics in refuse is much more than it was previously when tests were carried out.
MR. FORSGATE: From this, Mr. Chairman, would it be that we now have got to change our policy, the previous policy I think was to eventually burn all our refuse. Do we now have to revert to the previous older policy of dumping it and creating new reclamations similar to Kwun Tong and now Gin Drinker's Bay, which we hope to close because of the appalling smell?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I would like to correct the impression, Sir, that we form reclamations by dumping refuse. This is a very retrograde step, and I should hate to go back to it. But undoubtedly we have got to think twice on this subject because this question of smoke, for which the Urban Council is the authority, means we must be very careful on where we site our incinerators, we have to be. In this morning's newspaper there is a very good article on the question of trash, and this describes the position in the United States where the situation is very alarming. In San Francisco they are now having a special train to take the refuse out of the San Francisco area, and they had a public competition to try and find out what this train should be called. One called it "Excess Express" and the other one "20th Stenchury". (Laughter). But joking apart, this is a problem which is world-wide, and we are again sending, I hope, one of our members back to England to attend a conference on the problems of incineration, the problems they are creating, the problem of smoke and the disposal of wastes.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. FORSGATE:-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is there any danger of the Urban Council being hauled up by the Anti-Pollution Committee for polluting the atmosphere, or is this smoke regarded as acceptable?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I am afraid, Mr. Chairman, it is not regarded as acceptable. I think Mr. Wu will be able to inform you that there has been an objection to the Lai Chi Kok incinerator and this will have to be considered and sorted out.
MR. FORSGATE:-Finally, could I be assured that this problem, which is obviously becoming very much more frightful as time goes past, will be actively considered and possibly we could have a report, say, in six months' time?
CHAIRMAN:-I can say quite categorically, Mr. FORSGATE, that we have been thinking about this and doing something about it for many months now. It is only a question of coming up with the right solution; we can report back in six months if you wish.
(18) MR. SOLOMON RAFEEK asked the following question:-
I have received complaints from the Sister Superior of the Canossian Institute and Pui Tak School in Aberdeen Main Street to the effect that an empty space nearby has been used as an unofficial dumping ground and causing a nuisance to the residents nearby.
(a) Can this Council be informed whether any action has been taken by the U.S.D. to abate the nuisance? (b) Whether the appropriate Committee would investigate into the possibility of erecting a playground on that piece of land?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
The open space is being used at night by unlicensed hawkers and refuse is left behind by them. To reduce the nuisance a communal dustbin has been placed there and all hawkers have been advised to use it. The site is also cleaned by the Cleansing staff first thing in the morning, all refuse being collected and removed.
I will be happy to inquire if this site can be allocated for development as a playground.
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Page 111
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237
Page 110 of 237
198
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. FORSGATE:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the Director of Public Works for his full, informative reply. In short, the answer to my question about the efficiency of the incinerating apparatus is that it is not up to scratch. It dropped about 13% in comparison with what was estimated by the makers. As apparently some of this was due to our methods of collection, could the Director of Urban Services instruct his staff to revert to the previous method of picking out the incombustible material which is presenting a problem?
CHAIRMAN:-As far as I know, there is still a lot of picking out of bottles and other things by the staff.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -Mr. Chairman, I wonder if I may explain here, until the last few years you hardly ever found a bottle or a tin in refuse. Your amahs used to pick them all out, they used to pick out all the newspapers and other things. They are becoming more affluent, they no longer seem to be interested in picking out every bottle and tin, and I think possibly the same thing may go for the refuse collectors themselves. They used to have a business of picking out bottles and tins, but the fact now is the number of bottles and tins and plastics in refuse is much more than it was previously when tests were carried out.
MR. FORSGATE: From this, Mr. Chairman, would it be that we now have got to change our policy, the previous policy I think was to eventually burn all our refuse. Do we now have to revert to the previous older policy of dumping it and creating new reclamations similar to Kwun Tong and now Gin Drinker's Bay, which we hope to close because of the appalling smell?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I would like to correct the impres- sion, Sir, that we form reclamations by dumping refuse. This is a very retrograde step, and I should hate to go back to it. But un- doubtedly we have got to think twice on this subject because this question of smoke, for which the Urban Council is the authority, means we must be very careful on where we site our incinerators, we have to be. In this morning's newspaper there is a very good article on the question of trash, and this describes the position in the United States where the situation is very alarming. In San Francisco they are now having a special train to take the refuse out of the San Francisco area, and they had a public competition to try and find out what this train should be called. One called it "Excess Express" and the other one "20th Stenchury". (Laughter). But joking apart, this is a problem which is world-wide, and we are again sending, I hope, one of our members back to England to attend a conference on the problems of incineration, the problems they are creating, the problem of smoke and the disposal of wastes.
!
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
199
MR. FORSGATE:-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is there any danger of the Urban Council being hauled up by the Anti Pollution Committee for polluting the atmosphere, or is this smoke regarded as acceptable?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:—I am afraid, Mr. Chairman, it is not regarded as acceptable. I think Mr. Wu will be able to inform you that there has been an objection to the Lai Chi Kok incinerator and this will have to be considered and sorted out.
MR. FORSGATE:-Finally, could I be assured that this problem, which is obviously becoming very much more frightful as time goes past, will be actively considered and possibly we could have a report, say, in six months time?
CHAIRMAN:-I can say quite categorically, Mr. FORSGATE, that we have been thinking about this and doing something about it for many months now. It is only a question of coming up with the right solu- tion; we can report back in six months if you wish.
(18) MR. SOLOMON RAFEEK asked the following question:-
I have received complaints from the Sister Superior of the Canossian Institute and Pui Tak School in Aberdeen Main Street to the effect that an empty space nearby has been used as an unofficial dumping ground and causing a nuisance to the residents nearby.
(a) Can this Council be informed whether any action has been taken by the U.S.D. to abate the nuisance? (b) Whether the appropriate Committee would investi- gate into the possibility of erecting a playground on that piece of land?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
The open space is being used at night by unlicensed hawkers and refuse is left behind by them. To reduce the nui- sance a communal dustbin has been placed there and all hawkers have been advised to use it. The site is also cleaned by the Cleansing staff first thing in the morning, all refuse being collected and removed.
I will be happy to inquire if this site can be allocated for
development as a playground.
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37
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