ENG-1990 — Page 427

THE ENVIRONMENT

Transfer Stations

Owing to geographical constraints, the incinerators operating in Hong Kong are poorly located within residential areas and have caused significant air pollution despite the use of electrostatic precipitators. It was decided that the most satisfactory solution was to replace the incinerators with transfer stations.

The first purpose-built transfer station in Hong Kong was commissioned in April 1990 and is located at Kowloon Bay. This facility has a capacity to handle 1 800 tonnes of mainly domestic refuse each day. The station is built to the highest environmental standards and waste is now being delivered to landfill in enclosed containers. After the commissioning of this facility, the last urban landfill at Jordan Valley was closed in April 1990 and the Lai Chi Kok Incinerator ceased to operate in December 1990.

The Chai Wan Composting Plant will be demolished in 1991 for redevelopment into the Island East Transfer Station which is scheduled for completion by late 1992. Tenders for this transfer station were invited in February 1990 and the contract is expected to be awarded early in 1991. Upon completion of this station, the Kennedy Town Incinerator will be phased out thus removing a source of environmental nuisance in the urban area.

There are also plans for transfer stations in the western part of Hong Kong Island, the West Kowloon reclamation, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun/Yuen Long.

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Chemical and Special Wastes

Over 109 000 tonnes of chemical wastes were produced in Hong Kong in 1990. Most of these wastes were discharged into the environment through sewers and drains, without treatment, from a multiplicity of small industrial establishments that are located in multi- storey buildings and unsewered areas. While increasing quantities of chemical wastes are now delivered daily by waste producers for landfill co-disposal, re-use or re-export back to the countries of origin, the government intends to put a halt to the continuing problem of indiscriminate disposal of most of the waste. New regulations under the Waste Disposal Ordinance will be introduced to implement 'cradle-to-grave' control over the wastes while providing environmentally acceptable means of disposal including specialised waste treat- ment facilities and landfill co-disposal.

As part of this plan, a Chemical Waste Treatment Centre is being developed at Tsing Yi by means of a design-construct-and-operate contract run by a private consortium on behalf of the EPD. This will be commissioned in 1992. The centre will also serve as a reception facility under the Marpol Convention (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and its Protocol) for handling oily and noxious wastes generated from ships.

As an interim arrangement, a permit system is currently administered by the EPD to regulate the disposal of chemical wastes with municipal wastes at the Tseung Kwan O Landfill, as well as on a limited scale at the Pillar Point Valley Landfill. The main chemical wastes handled were spent chemicals from industrial production, expired or damaged chemical products, and asbestos waste arising from building refurbishment and demolition. In order to encourage waste producers to follow the Code of Practice on asbestos waste and to deter malpractices at the landfills, an Asbestos Waste Action Plan was launched during 1990. The implementation of the Action plan coupled with tighter supervision at the landfills resulted in improvements to safe practices at the landfills and reduced risk