ENG-2001 — Page 359

THE ENVIRONMENT

being dumped in the landfills, leading to a significant reduction in their expected lifespan. Given the shortage of land in Hong Kong and the keen competition for any available space, it will be difficult to find sites for any new landfills. The plan aims to reduce the amount of waste produced, to encourage re-use and recycling, to promote greater efficiency and economy in the management of waste, and to prolong the usable life of Hong Kong's landfills.

Waste recovery continued to play an important role in waste management, resulting in the export of substantial quantities of recovered waste materials for remanufacturing outside Hong Kong. In all, more than 1.7 million tonnes of waste materials including waste paper, metals and plastic were exported in 2001, generating export earnings of about $2.6 billion.

In 2001, a review of the current waste trend concluded that more should be done to promote waste prevention and recycling in order to achieve the targets of the 1998 Waste Reduction Framework Plan. The Government announced in September a package of measures to further promote and facilitate waste prevention and recycling, to provide long-term land for exclusive use by the recycling industry.

Landfills

All municipal solid waste is disposed of at three large modern landfills in the New Territories. Specialist waste management contractors operate these landfills to high environmental standards.

The community disposed of about 16 800 tonnes of solid wastes every day. Of this, 7 600 tonnes were domestic waste, 1 800 tonnes were commercial and industrial waste and 6 400 tonnes came from construction activities. On average, each person in Hong Kong disposed of about 2.5 kilograms of waste every day in 2001.

Rapid development in Hong Kong over the past decade has contributed to a dramatic increase in the amount of construction and demolition (C&D) material. Some 38 000 tonnes of such material were generated every day during 2001, and about 80 per cent of it was re-used in reclamation projects. Only waste unsuitable for reclamation purposes was sent to the landfills.

As the current three landfills will only have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, the Government is conducting a study to explore the extension potential of the existing landfills and to identify potential new landfill locations. Assessments environmental performance, socio-economic impacts and technical feasibility of these schemes are being carried out. The study will be completed in 2002.

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Hong Kong has 13 old landfills. For safety and environmental reasons, restoration measures have been taken at these landfills, and restoration of 12 of them is complete. The last landfill, the Pillar Point Valley landfill, is intended to be restored by mid-2005. After full restoration, the sites may be used primarily for community and recreational activities.

Refuse Transfer Stations

The network of refuse transfer stations forms an important component of the Government's waste disposal facilities. Waste collected in urban centres is delivered to these stations, where it is compacted into sealed containers for delivery to the three landfills.

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