ENG-1996 — Page 485

THE ENVIRONMENT

Hong Kong's 13 old landfills are polluting the environment by the decomposition of refuse, and the production of large quantities of a highly polluting liquid called leachate and gases (mainly methane and carbon dioxide) which may become explosive. These landfills will be restored in phases and some gas control facilities are already operational at the Sai Tso Wan and Shuen Wan Landfills. Plans for the restoration works at these landfills are well advanced. After full restoration, the sites may be used for community activity purposes.

The government plans to apply the 'polluter pays' principle to recover the cost of providing landfills by charging for the disposal of all commercial, industrial and construction waste.

Refuse Transfer Stations

A network of refuse transfer stations is being developed. Waste collected in urban centres will be delivered to these stations for compaction into sealed containers and then sent to the three strategic landfills. Transfer stations at Kowloon Bay, Island East and Sha Tin currently handle about 4 000 tonnes of refuse every day.

Work has begun on an underground transfer station at the western end of Hong Kong Island and it will be operational in 1997. This Island West Station, together with the Island East Station, will be capable of handling all the waste generated on Hong Kong Island. A station is under construction in West Kowloon and tenders have been awarded for stations in North Lantau and the Outlying Islands. A tender will be invited shortly for the station to serve North-West New Territories.

Chemical and Special Wastes

Each day some 180 tonnes of chemical waste generated by some 8 800 waste producers are collected and treated at the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre. The running costs are partially recovered through a user direct-charging scheme.

Waste producers are encouraged to adopt clean technologies and to minimise their wastes so as to reduce treatment cost. All chemical waste producers must properly store and dispose of their chemical wastes. A trip ticket system involving the waste producers, licensed collectors and licensed disposal points, tracks the movement of chemical waste from the point of origin to the point of final disposal. Most of the chemical waste is treated at the centre but some solid chemical waste, such as asbestos, is sent to landfills.

To help farmers dispose of their livestock waste properly, a door-to-door livestock waste-collection service commenced in July 1996 to replace the collection points system. About 5 800 tonnes of livestock waste were collected during the year and sent to Sha Ling Composting Plant for composting. A storage facility is being planned for low-level radioactive waste.

Monitoring and Investigations

The assessment of progress towards policy goals is one of the key activities of the EPD. Its routine monitoring and special investigations form the basis for all the strategic planning, provision of facilities and statutory controls aimed at improving the environment. The EPD has more than 100 sampling stations in the open sea, enclosed bays and typhoon shelters plus another 80-odd stations for inland waters. It also keeps 42 gazetted bathing beaches under surveillance.

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