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MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):—Mr. Chairman, to save the time spent in arguments offered by laymen on highly complex and technical questions like these, may I just repeat my earlier supplementary question of why can't the Council now engage an independent consultant to provide a new review and new sets of alternative feasibilities for improvement?
MR. LO KING-MAN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I don't think the issue is whether the Council can or cannot. The Council can do a lot of things. Basically, I've already said that I would be very pleased to take into account whatever is recorded in today's discussion and refer the whole matter to the Select Committee again. I think it would be appropriate to say that let the Select Committee decide whether or not it needs consultants and professional expertises outside what the Council can have virtually received as expert's support. I think it would be fair to say that. Thank you.
3. MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG asked the following question (in Cantonese):— 'Recycle, reuse and reduction of waste' are the objectives of solid waste treatment authorities of the advanced countries of the world as well as the adopted theme of territory-wide environmental campaign in November in Hong Kong. What measures have been taken by the Urban Council to show the support of the above trend or movement as a major waste collection agency of this modern city? What is the role and position of the Urban Council on this subject which has attracted considerable interest among the community at large?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):—Mr. Chairman, the question concerns the role played by the Urban Council on recycling and reduction of waste and the measures taken to support these activities. The Council is the Collection Authority responsible for the collection of domestic waste in the urban area for delivery to disposal sites for treatment by the disposal authority. Its resources are therefore dedicated to maintaining an efficient collection service with the least disturbance to the environment and minimal sanitary nuisances caused to the public. The Council is not charged with the responsibility of waste treatment which may include recycling and reduction; nor given the resources to do so. Also, the Council has no authority to direct the household to do any sorting or waste separation. The Council however in principle supports the objectives of the solid waste treatment authority. Any response to waste recycling and minimization should be considered in the light of Council's responsibilities and within the resources available.
Recycling and reduction of waste are part of environmental protection programmes, and the Environmental Pollution Advisory Committee (EPCOM) is responsible for giving advice on these activities. Publicity and campaign activities are being actively implemented by the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). Therefore, the Urban Council is not in the proper position to co-ordinate waste recycling and minimization at source other than maintaining an efficient collection service. However, the Council is only too pleased to lend its support to any initiative which EPCOM or EPD may have in this direction.
The specific support on waste recycling and minimization the Department has taken in support of the campaign activities organized by the Environmental Campaign Committee includes the following:
(a) Collection on request as far as is practicable at a centralized point, segregated bags of separated waste generated by individual households within say an estate;
(b) Provision of logistical support to any waste recycling and minimization activities organized by schools or other organizations; and
(c) Establishment of an office paper recycling pilot scheme within USD Headquarters so as to promote environmental awareness among office workers. To date, the result is encouraging and this waste paper recycling scheme will later be extended to district offices and other Urban Council venues and facilities.
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general public should endeavour to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill by the method of waste paper recycling or reusable waste. The Urban Council, apart from being responsible for collecting refuse and waste should through the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign, try to raise the awareness of the public and to teach them how to reduce the amount of waste so that the Government's project can be a success. Can the Urban Council being an important organization responsible for refuse collection with a large fleet of refuse collection vehicles and with the encouragement of the Government and some local organizations, utilize more recycled petrol products? Besides, since the Urban Council has used a lot of paper for meetings and other purposes, can we take the lead in making better use of recycled paper so that the public is aware of the effort being made by the Government and the Urban Council?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, as far as the publicity is concerned to the public and to arouse the public awareness, the Environmental Campaign Committee is actively launching a festival in late November. As far as the Urban Council is concerned, as I mentioned that one of the three measures we are taking is a paper recycling scheme within the Urban Services Department offices and will be later be extended to the venues. As regards the petrol recycling, I think this will involve additional manpower and resources, I don't know whether it will be cost-effective for us to enter into such a venture. I don't have any definite reply to the last question.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in respect of the final paragraph of Dr. LEUNG's answer, does he mean all office papers at headquarters are recycled as a pilot scheme or only a small part of the paper?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, as far as I was informed, all the waste papers generated from the headquarters have been recycled and this scheme has proved to be successful and this will be extended
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MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):—Mr. Chairman, to save the time spent in arguments offered by laymen on highly complex and technical questions like these, may I just repeat my earlier supplementary question of why can't the Council now engage an independent consultant to provide a new review and new sets of alternative feasibilities for improvement?
MR. LO KING-MAN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I don't think the issue is whether the Council can or cannot. The Council can do a lot of things. Basically, I've already said that I would be very pleased to take into account whatever is recorded in today's discussion and refer the whole matter to the Select Committee again. I think it would be appropriate to say that let the Select Committee decide whether or not it needs consultants and professional expertises outside what the Council can have virtually received as expert's support. I think it would be fair to say that. Thank you.
3. MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG asked the following question (in Cantonese):— 'Recycle, reuse and reduction of waste' are the objectives of solid waste treatment authorities of the advanced countries of the world as well as the adopted theme of territory wide environmental campaign in November in Hong Kong. What measures have been taken by the Urban Council to show the support of the above trend or movement as a major waste collection agency of this modern city? What is the role and position of the Urban Council on this subject which has attracted considerable interest among the community at large?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-Mr. Chairman, the question concerns the role played by the Urban Council on recycling and reduction of waste and the measures taken to support these activities. The Council is the Collection Authority responsible for the collection of domestic waste in the urban area for delivery to disposal sites for treatment by the disposal authority. Its resources are therefore dedicated to maintaining an efficient collection service with the least disturbance to the environment and minimal sanitary nuisances caused to the public. The Council is not charged with the responsibility of waste treatment which may include recycling and reduction; nor given the resources to do so. Also, the Council has no authority to direct the household to do any sorting or waste separation. The Council however in principle supports the objectives of the solid waste treatment authority. Any response to waste recycling and minimization should be considered in the light of Council's responsibilities and within the resources available.
Recycling and reduction of waste are part of environmental protection programmes, and the Environmental Pollution Advisory Committee (EPCOM) is responsible for giving advice on these activities. Publicity and campaign activities are being actively implemented by the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). Therefore, the Urban Council is not in the proper position to co-ordinate waste recycling and minimization at source other than maintaining an efficient
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
123
collection service. However, the Council is only too pleased to lend its support to any initiative which EPCOM or EPD may have in this direction.
The specific support on waste recycling and minimization the Department has taken in support of the campaign activities organized by the Environmental Campaign Committee includes the following:
(a) Collection on request as far as is practicable at a centralized point, segregated bags of separated waste generated by individual households within say an estate;
(b) Provision of logistical support to any waste recycling and minimization
activities organized by schools or other organizations; and
(c) Establishment of an office paper recycling pilot scheme within USD Headquarters so as to promote environmental awareness among office workers. To date, the result is encouraging and this waste paper recycling scheme will later be extended to district offices and other Urban Council venues and facilities.
general public should endeavour to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, I do agree that the by the method of waste paper recycling or reusable waste. The Urban Council, apart from being responsible for collecting refuse and waste should through the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign, try to raise the awareness of the public and to teach them how to reduce the amount of waste so that the Government's project can be a success. Can the Urban Council being an important organization responsible for refuse collection with a large fleet of refuse collection vehicles and with the encouragement of the Government and some local organizations, utilize more recycled petrol products? Besides, since the Urban Council has used a lot of paper for meetings and other purposes, can we take the lead in making better use of recycled paper so that the public is aware of the effort being made by the Government and the Urban Council?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, as far as the publicity is concerned to the public and to arouse the public awareness, the Environmental Campaign Committee is actively launching a festival in late November. As far as the Urban Council is concerned, as I mentioned that one of the three measures we are taking is a paper recycling scheme within the Urban Services Department offices and will be later be extended to the venues. As regards the petrol recycling, I think this will involve additional manpower and resources, I don't know whether it will be cost-effective for us to enter into such a venture. I don't have any definite reply to the last question.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):---Mr. Chairman, in respect of the final paragraph of Dr. LEUNG's answer, does he mean all office papers at headquarters are recycled as a pilot scheme or only a small part of the paper?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, as far as I was informed, all the waste papers generated from the headquarters have been recycled and this scheme has proved to be successful and this will be extended
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