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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.
## MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 1990, were confirmed.
## PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of April 1990.
## QUESTIONS
1. MR. RONNIE M. C. WONG asked the following question (in Cantonese):-In the year before last, the Council sent a delegation to Scandinavia to study, among other things, the collection of refuse in cities there and the relevant information was compiled into a report. It is worthwhile for Hong Kong to adopt such practices as classification of refuse and its subsequent recycling as recommended in the Report. Has the Council ever taken any action in this respect? If not, why?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns the classification of wastes and the separation of wastes for recycling.
The recyclable wastes are mainly paper, plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and glass. The Department examined some time ago the usefulness of classifying wastes for recycling by the introduction of bottle banks and the separation of papers for collection. It was found that unlike other cities in Europe, recycling of wastes in Hong Kong has already been extensively practised by private refuse collectors of domestic and commercial buildings, who charge a fee for delivering the refuse to our refuse collection points managed by the Council. The wastes collected usually have gone through extensive sorting by these private refuse collectors and have little value for separation by the time they arrive at our refuse collection points.
Also, it would involve additional costs for the Council to acquire vehicles, equipment and staff to collect and empty separate containers for wastes classification. The costs are unlikely to be offset by the proceeds from selling the recyclable waste materials.
The Department is aware that the Government has plans to minimize the amount of wastes generated and encourage the recycling of wastes. The Planning, Environment and Lands Branch formed a 'Waste Minimization and Recycling Committee' in November 1989 to work out a strategy to achieve this objective. The Department is represented on this Committee, and will, as far as is practicable and cost-effective, help to achieve this objective.
21
MR. RONNIE M. C. WONG (in Cantonese): Sir, Dr. LEUNG says that waste recycling has in fact been done in residential and commercial buildings. Since we do collect a large amount of refuse every year, have we tried to classify our own waste?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I suppose when Mr. WONG mentioned our collection it means collection of refuse from our parks, our playgrounds and our own venues. I think this amount of refuse constituted only a very small percentage of the total amount of refuse we collect. The major bulk of the waste we collect is from the commercial and residential premises. As far as the residual value of the recyclable wastes in our refuse is concerned, by the time it reaches our refuse collection point, it has already got very low paper and glass contents as compared with other overseas countries. So as I said in the reply, there is already an extensive amount of recycling and sorting out by private sectors, i.e. the workers either in our RCPs or those contractors employed by the building management to collect the wastes.
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG and Mr. Marvin K. T. CHEUNG arrived at 2.34 p.m. and 2.35 p.m. respectively.)
MR. RONNIE M. C. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I think we should disregard the amount of refuse collected. As long as it is advantageous to the environment, the right step should be taken. I hope that Dr. LEUNG's Committee can take this into consideration. It is worth trying regardless of the amount of refuse we collect.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—This is a suggestion and not a question. I think it is a worthwhile suggestion and I think the Department may take note of it that we just keep in our own house first in order to set a good example for the public. I think it is worthwhile for the Department to take note of this point and have a separate collection for papers and glasses as far as possible.
MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Sir, as far as I know, in EPCOM, there is a paper which suggests that something be done on a territory-wide basis. In other words, trial points will be selected for classifying of refuse and separate waste recycling in order to reduce the amount of refuse collected. The Regional Council is also conducting a pilot scheme in Tuen Mun in order to identify the problems and assess the effects. I would like to ask whether Dr. LEUNG's Committee has considered bringing our policy in line with that of the Government so that when the refuse eventually goes to the incinerators or landfills, they could help to resolve the environmental problem fundamentally?
(Miss Victoria Y. CHAN arrived at 2.36 p.m.)
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20
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 1990, were confirmed.
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and
Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of April 1990.
QUESTIONS
1. MR. RONNIE M. C. WONG asked the following question (in Cantonese):-In the year before last, the Council sent a delegation to Scandinavia to study, among other things, the collection of refuse in cities there and the relevant information was compiled into a report. It is worthwhile for Hong Kong to adopt such practices as classification of refuse and its subsequent recycling as recommended in the Report. Has the Council ever taken any action in this respect? If not, why?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns the classification of wastes and the separation of wastes for recycling.
The recyclable wastes are mainly paper, plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and glass. The Department examined some time ago the usefulness of classifying wastes for recycling by the introduction of bottle banks and the separation of papers for collection. It was found that unlike other cities in Europe, recycling of wastes in Hong Kong has already been extensively practised by private refuse collectors of domestic and commercial buildings, who charge a fee for delivering the refuse to our refuse collection points managed by the Council. The wastes collected usually have gone through extensive sorting by these private refuse collectors and have little value for separation by the time they arrive at out refuse collection points.
Also, it would involve additional costs for the Council to acquire vehicles, equipment and staff to collect and empty separate containers for wastes classification. The costs are unlikely to be offset by the proceeds from selling the recyclable waste materials.
The Department is aware that the Government has plans to minimize the amount of wastes generated and encourage the recycling of wastes. The Planning, Environment and Lands Branch formed a 'Waste Minimization and
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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21
Recycling Committee' in November 1989 to work out a strategy to achieve this objective. The Department is represented on this Committee, and will, as far as is practicable and cost-effective, help to achieve this objective.
MR. RONNIE M. C. WONG (in Cantonese): Sir, Dr. LEUNG says that waste recycling has in fact been done in residential and commercial buildings. Since we do collect a large amount of refuse every year, have we tried to classify our own waste?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I suppose when Mr. WONG mentioned our collection it means collection of refuse from our parks, our playgrounds and our own venues. I think this amount of refuse constituted only a very small percentage of the total amount of refuse we collect. The major bulk of the waste we collect is from the commercial and residential premises. As far as the residual value of the recyclable wastes in our refuse is concerned, by the time it reaches our refuse collection point, it has already got very low paper and glass contents as compared with other overseas countries. So as I said in the reply, there is already an extensive amount of recycling and sorting out by private sectors, i.e. the workers either in our RCPs or those contractors employed by the building management to collect the wastes.
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG and Mr. Marvin K. T. CHEUNG arrived at 2.34 p.m. and 2.35 p.m. respectively.)
MR. RONNIE M. C. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I think we should disregard the amount of refuse collected. As long as it is advantageous to the environment, the right step should be taken. I hope that Dr. LEUNG's Committee can take this into consideration. It is worth trying regardless of the amount of refuse we collect.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—This is a suggestion and not a question. I think it is a worthwhile suggestion and I think the Department may take note of it that we just keep in our own house first in order to set a good example for the public. I think it is worthwhile for the Department to take note of this point and have a separate collection for papers and glasses as far as possible.
MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Sir, as far as I know, in EPCOM, there is a paper which suggests that something be done on a territory-wide basis. In other words, trial points will be selected for classifying of refuse and separate waste recycling in order to reduce the amount of refuse collected. The Regional Council is also conducting a pilot scheme in Tuen Mun in order to identify the problems and assess the effects. I would like to ask whether Dr. LEUNG'S Committee has considered bringing our policy in line with that of the Government so that when the refuse eventually goes to the incinerators or landfills, they could help to resolve the environmental problem fundamentally?
(Miss Victoria Y. CHAN arrived at 2.36 p.m.)
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