ENG-2007 — Page 331

The Environment 279

Clinical Waste

Upon upgrading of the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre to the latest European Union emission standards, the Government will make arrangements for the centre to receive clinical waste.

Construction Waste

The construction industry generated about 22 860 tonnes of construction waste every day in 2007. Of that, about 87 per cent was suitable for re-use. The construction waste charging scheme was introduced in December 2005 to provide an economic incentive for reducing construction waste. The Government also started, on a trial basis in mid-2007, to deliver inert materials to the Mainland for re-use in reclamation projects there.

Large-scale Waste Treatment Facilities

Hong Kong has to deal with a large volume of non-recyclable waste and needs. new state-of-the-art, cost-effective facilities to treat such waste and reduce its volume. A multi-technology approach should be adopted so that wastes of different nature can be dealt with by the most suitable technology. The Government aims to commission the first phase of the large-scale Integrated Waste Management Facilities (IWMF) in the mid-2010s. The Government will also develop an Organic Waste Treatment Facilities (OWTF) that would treat source-separated organic waste such as food waste and turn them into useful resources. It plans to commission the first phase of OWTF before mid-2010s. However, even with such facilities, residual waste will still need to be disposed of at landfills.

Import and Export of Waste

Import and export of wastes are controlled by a permit system under the Waste Disposal Ordinance (WDO). The controls are in line with the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which requires notification and consent by authorities of the states of origin, destination and transit before the shipment of hazardous or non-recyclable waste can begin.

More than 60 member states of the Basel Convention, including Mainland China, ban the export of hazardous waste from developed countries to developing countries. EPD has ceased issuing import permits for controlled waste from the banned countries since 1998. The ban arrangement was also incorporated in the WDO in April 2006.

In 2000, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the HKSAR and the Mainland to strengthen control of hazardous waste movements between the two places. The MOU was subsequently renamed as 'Cooperation Arrangement on Control of Waste Movements Between the Mainland and HKSAR' in November 2007.

In 2007, 110 prosecutions were carried out against illegal imports and exports of waste, with fines totalling some $2 million. Most of the offences were related to trans-shipment of hazardous electronic waste through Hong Kong to other places.