ENG-1993 — Page 459

THE ENVIRONMENT

Under the application of the 'polluter pays' principle, those who cause the pollution will contribute financially to part of the programme.

Charges will be modest for households. Industry and commerce will pay more through a trade effluent surcharge because they create more pollution. The government hopes that the charging scheme will encourage them to take remedial measures such as more careful use of water and effluent treatment.

Legislation to give effect to the charging arrangements will be introduced into the Legislative Council in 1994.

The high-priority programme comprises a deep tunnel sewerage system running from Hong Kong Island East to Tseung Kwan O and Tsuen Wan, with treatment works on Stonecutters Island, as well as improvements to associated local sewerage networks.

The ongoing sewage improvement schemes comprise more than 30 projects funded under the public works programme.

Landfills

Most municipal solid waste is currently disposed of at three landfills, located at Tseung Kwan O, Shuen Wan and Pillar Point Valley. Much of the rest is incinerated. The current territorial waste disposal strategy is to develop three other large landfills in remote areas of the New Territories, to provide the necessary capacity for disposal of waste for the next

20 years.

These landfills will be served by a network of refuse transfer stations located in the urban area. The landfills and transfer stations will be designed, constructed and operated to high environmental standards by experienced waste management contractors.

Contracts for the design, construction and operation of the West New Territories Landfill and the Southeast New Territories Landfill were awarded in 1993. The contract for the Northeast New Territories Landfill is expected to be awarded in 1994. The West New Territories Landfill was commissioned in November and the expected dates of commissioning for the Southeast New Territories Landfill and Northeast New Territories Landfill are mid-1994 and early 1995, respectively.

Due to rapid development in the territory, the amount of construction waste arriving at the landfills has increased dramatically in the past few years. Some 11 000 tonnes of such waste was created every day during 1993. The disposal of such large quantities of this waste at existing landfills has led to a short-term critical shortage of waste disposal capacity. To overcome this problem, the capacity of the existing landfills is being increased. Arrangements have also been made to advance some reclamation activities, so that suitable construction wastes can be used to create land, instead of using up valuable landfill space.

The decomposition of refuse produces large quantities of a highly polluting liquid called leachate, and gases which may be explosive. As a precaution, studies are being conducted on the collection, treatment and disposal of landfill gas and leachate produced at existing and fully used-up landfill sites. These studies will identify solutions to mitigate the landfill gas and leachate problems, and finalise the requirements for fitting pollution control systems and landfill restoration works. Future land-use of the restored landfills will also be considered. A gas control system was installed at Sai Tso Wan Landfill in 1991 and the system is operating satisfactorily, with no sign of gas migration off the site.

The phased restoration works programme developed under a study for the fully used-up urban landfills at Jordan Valley, Ma Yau Tong Centre, Ma Yau Tong West, Gin Drinkers'

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