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that the weekends and the public holidays are the appropriate time for families. So if you said that it should be convenient for families and this is exactly why that free admission day should better be on the weekends and holidays. Am I correct? Have I answered your question?
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, that does answer my question but I thought children might like to go from school and that should be weekdays.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):-Oh? I see. Perhaps if the schools are going to lead the children in groups to visit the museums, then that would be received under a special category. In that case, the group will be taken care of by the museum docent already. So for weekend family days, for those who have not been able to join a school group, then they are still free to join the family to go to the museum.
MR. MA LEE-WO (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, MR. YUEN has not given a definite answer as to whether the Museums Select Committee will consider having a free day in one week? Will the Museums Select Committee consider that? I want a definite reply. On the other hand, the free day can fall on a school holiday, e.g. during the summer holiday or during long school breaks, there can be free days. I wonder if the Museums Select Committee can consider that suggestion?
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I am afraid I cannot commit the Museums Select Committee to say yes or no to the question. But as its Chairman, I can say that this question will be referred to the Museums Select Committee for further consideration. I will seek the views of the Select Committee members as well as those of departmental staff.
5. MR. PAUL YOUNG TZE-KONG asked the following question (in English):- How many licensed private refuse collection vehicles are there in Hong Kong? Has the Council any jurisdiction over the hygienic standards of these vehicles? If not, who is the authority for such matters, and will the Council consider bringing them under the Council's control? And if not, why not?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):--The question concerning private refuse collection vehicles is in two parts.
The first part asks how many licensed private refuse collection vehicles there are in Hong Kong. There are presently some 125 medium goods vehicles, 43 light goods vehicles and 1 heavy goods vehicle being used as refuse collection vehicles.
None of these private refuse collection vehicles is specifically licensed by the Urban Council for such purposes. Although provision exists under section 10 of the Waste Disposal Ordinance, Cap. 354, for Council to license any person or company providing waste collection service, no need for such licensing is envisaged at the moment.
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The second part of the question asks about the hygienic standards of these vehicles. The Commissioner for Transport regulates only the payload and road worthiness of the private refuse collection vehicles and no specific requirements are imposed in respect of the hygienic standards of such vehicles.
The potential environmental nuisances which could arise as the result of the operation of refuse collection vehicles are the spillage of waste and the leakage of foul liquid. However, such nuisances can be controlled in that there are already offences under By-laws 9 and 9(A) of the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances (Urban Council) By-laws, and offenders are liable to a fine of $10,000 and imprisonment for 6 months.
The existing licensing system operated by the Transport Department, coupled with the legislative controls over nuisances which might arise from private refuse collection vehicles, are considered adequate. The private waste collection trade has achieved considerable growth in recent years. Furthermore, in general terms, this growth has generally been accompanied by significant improvements in the way in which the trade operates in terms of operational efficiency.
THE HON. LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, according to the reply by Professor LEUNG, the authority has to rely on the Urban Council Bylaw to prevent nuisance caused by these waste collection vehicles. I don't know why the UC's bylaws are involved, why can't these vehicles be monitored by the Urban Council and why can't we have a licensing system under this Council to ensure that these vehicles can be regularly inspected with a view to finding out whether the vehicles are managed to a satisfactory level?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this question can be understood from the following information.
First, these private refuse collection vehicles are mainly used in collecting industrial waste and waste other than domestic waste. The Urban Council is collecting 1,200 tonnes of domestic waste on Hong Kong Island and 1,800 tonnes in Kowloon Peninsula and the RC is collecting 2,000 in the New Territories daily. The private refuse collection vehicles are only collecting 1,400 tonnes of industrial waste and 400 tonnes of other waste and only a small proportion is related to domestic waste. So in terms of responsibility, these private refuse collection vehicles play a minor role and they provide specific services. And in terms of design of these vehicles, there are specific requirements to reduce inconvenience to public and also to reduce bad smell to a minimum.
As for the question of licensing, why can't these vehicles be put under a licensing system of this Council. I think, according to my understanding, at the present stage, in terms of real numbers, there is no such need. If these vehicles are really causing nuisances, according to our understanding and figures available, the major problem is bad smell emitted from these vehicles. The bad smell is directly related to the refuse collected by these vehicles. If the waste is organic waste, then there will be bad smell. According to a technical...
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that the weekends and the public holidays are the appropriate time for families. So if you said that it should be convenient for families and this is exactly why that free admission day should better be on the weekends and holidays. Am I correct? Have I answered your question?
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, that does answer my question but I thought children might like to go from school and that should be weekdays.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):-Oh? I see. Perhaps if the schools are going to lead the children in groups to visit the museums, then that would be received under a special category. In that case, the group will be taken care of by the museum docent already. So for weekend family days, for those who have not been able to join a school group, then they are still free to join the family to go to the museum.
MR. MA LEE-WO (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Mr. YUEN has not given a definite answer as to whether the Museums Select Committee will consider having a free day in one week? Will the Museums Select Committee consider that? I want a definite reply. On the other hand, the free day can fall on a school holiday, e.g. during the summer holiday or during long school breaks, there can be free days. I wonder if the Museums Select Committee can consider that suggestion?
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I am afraid I cannot commit the Museums Select Committee to say yes or no to the question. But as its Chairman, I can say that this question will be referred to the Museums Select Committee for further consideration. I will seek the views of the Select Committee members as well as those of departmental staff.
5. MR. PAUL YOUNG TZE-KONG asked the following question (in English):- How many licensed private refuse collection vehicles are there in Hong Kong? Has the Council any jurisdiction over the hygienic standards of these vehicles? If not, who is the authority for such matters, and will the Council consider bringing them under the Council's control? And if not, why not?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):--The question concerning private refuse collection vehicles is in two parts.
The first part asks how many licensed private refuse collection vehicles there are in Hong Kong. There are presently some 125 medium goods vehicles, 43 light goods vehicles and 1 heavy goods vehicle being used as refuse collection vehicles.
None of these private refuse collection vehicles is specifically licensed by the Urban Council for such purposes. Although provision exists under section 10 of the Waste Disposal Ordinance, Cap. 354, for Council to license any person or company providing waste collection service, no need for such licensing is envisaged at the moment.
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The second part of the question asks about the hygienic standards of these vehicles. The Commissioner for Transport regulates only the payload and road worthiness of the private refuse collection vehicles and no specific requirements are imposed in respect of the hygienic standards of such vehicles.
The potential environmental nuisances which could arise as the result of the operation of refuse collection vehicles are the spillage of waste and the leakage of foul liquid. However, such nuisances can be controlled in that there are already offences under By-laws 9 and 9(A) of the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances (Urban Council) By-laws, and offenders are liable to a fine of $10,000 and imprisonment for 6 months.
The existing licensing system operated by the Transport Department, coupled with the legislative controls over nuisances which might arise from private refuse collection vehicles, are considered adequate. The private waste collection trade has achieved considerable growth in recent years. Furthermore, in general terms, this growth has generally been accompanied by significant improvements in the way in which the trade operates in terms of operational efficiency.
THE HON. LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, according to the reply by Professor LEUNG, the authority has to rely on the Urban Council Bylaw to prevent nuisance caused by these waste collection vehicles. I don't know why the UC's bylaws are involved, why can't these vehicles be monitored by the Urban Council and why can't we have a licensing system under this Council to ensure that these vehicles can be regularly inspected with a view to finding out whether the vehicles are managed to a satisfactory level?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG (in Cantonese):-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this question can be understood from the following information.
First, these private refuse collection vehicles are mainly used in collecting industrial waste and waste other than domestic waste. The Urban Council is collecting 1 200 tonnes of domestic waste on Hong Kong Island and 1800 tonnes in Kowloon Peninsula and the RC is collecting 2000 in the New Territories daily. The private refuse collection vehicles are only collecting 1 400 tonnes of industrial waste and 400 tonnes of other waste and only a small proportion is related to domestic waste. So in terms of responsibility, these private refuse collection vehicles play a minor role and they provide specific services. And in terms of design of these vehicles, there are specific requirements to reduce inconvenience to public and also to reduce bad smell to a minimum.
As for the question of licensing, why can't these vehicles be put under a licensing system of this Council. I think, according to my understanding, at the present stage, in terms of real numbers, there is no such need. If these vehicles are really causing nuisances, according to our understanding and figures available, the major problem is bad smell emitted from these vehicles. The bad smell is directly related to the refuse collected by these vehicles. If the waste is organic waste, then there will be bad smell. According to a technical
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