ENG-2004 — Page 367

The Environment 1 317

Beach water quality ranking

Bathing season geometric means

Minor health risk

Number of

of E. coli count per 100ml of beach water

cases per 1 000 swimmers

beaches

2003

2004

Good

Up to 24

Undetectable

23

25

Fair

25 to 180

10 or less

11

9

181 to 610

11 to 15

1

5

More than 610

More than 15

6

2

Poor

Very Poor

Beach water quality gradings for open beaches are available weekly through the media and the EPD's home page.

Waste Management

Waste Reduction

In November 1998, the Government launched a 10-year Waste Reduction Framework Plan. This was a response to the rapid growth in the amount of waste 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 continues to play an important role in waste management, resulting in the export of substantial quantities of recovered waste materials for re-manufacturing outside Hong Kong. In all, about 2.1 million tonnes of waste materials including paper, metals and plastic were exported in 2004, generating export earnings of about $3.4 billion.

Waste reduction and recovery have been the Government's main focus in tackling the waste problem. The Government introduced a package of initiatives in 2001 to further promote waste prevention and recycling and has been making progress in this regard.

Charging for waste disposal is an important element in the waste management strategy adopted in Hong Kong. It can provide economic incentives for waste producers to reduce waste and to carry out sorting to facilitate re-use and recycling which will, in turn, help conserve landfill capacity. As a first step, the Government intends to levy charges for the disposal of construction waste at landfills, sorting facilities and public fill reception facilities. In late 2003, it introduced the Waste Disposal (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill to give effect to the scheme for charging for construction waste disposal. The Bill was passed by the Legislative Council in July 2004. Related regulations will be implemented in 2005.