ENG-2004 — Page 368

318 The Environment

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 9 290 tonnes of municipal solid wastes every day in 2004. Of this, 7 020 tonnes was domestic waste and 2 270 tonnes were commercial and industrial waste. On average, each person in Hong Kong disposed of about 1.36 kilograms of municipal solid waste daily.

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. The material generated every day amounted to some 56 000 tonnes, on average, and about 88 per cent of it was suitable for re-use in reclamation projects.

The current three landfills have a remaining lifespan of only 6 to 10 years. In 2004, the Government kicked off a public communication programme on the urgent need to extend the existing landfills. Planning and development work on possible landfill extension schemes will soon proceed to ensure the continuity of waste. disposal outlets.

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 has been completed. It is intended to restore the last landfill, at Pillar Point Valley, by mid-2006. 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.

Seven modern transfer stations and one set of Outlying Island Transfer Facilities (OITF) handle 5 360 tonnes of waste every day. This is mostly domestic waste, and represents around 76 per cent of Hong Kong's total daily domestic waste production. Six of these transfer facilities the stations at Hong Kong Island East, Hong Kong Island West, West Kowloon, North Lantau and North-West New Territories and the OITF on Ma Wan also provide services to private waste collectors.

Chemical and Special Wastes

The widespread malpractice of dumping chemical waste into sewers and surface waters was stopped by the introduction of comprehensive controls on the handling and disposal of chemical waste. All chemical waste producers are required to properly pack, label and store their chemical wastes before disposal at proper treatment facilities. A trip ticket system involving the waste producers, licensed collectors and licensed disposal points - tracks the movement of chemical waste from its origin to the final disposal point.