ENG-2020 — Page 289

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The Environment

biogas, with compost/organic fertiliser as a by-product. The first such facility opened in North Lantau in 2018 and by December 2020 it had treated 82,000 tonnes of food waste, and produced 2,300 tonnes of compost and 2,600,000 kWh of electricity. Construction of the second facility began in 2019. When completed, the two facilities will be able to treat 500 tonnes of food waste each day. The government is also exploring the use of existing sewage treatment plants for the anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and sewage sludge to increase the food waste treatment capacity. It launched the first trial scheme in 2019 at the Tai Po Sewage Treatment Works, which can process about 50 tonnes of food waste a day.

The government is also developing a yard waste recycling centre in Tuen Mun. Once operational in 2021, it will be able to treat 60 tonnes of yard waste a day.

These high-tech facilities do not eliminate the need for waste reduction at source or for landfills to hold residual waste.

Chemical, Clinical and Special Waste

All chemical and clinical waste producers are required to pack, label and store their chemical and clinical waste properly before disposal at licensed treatment facilities. A trip ticket system tracks the waste movement from its origin to the final disposal point. The Chemical Waste Treatment Centre on Tsing Yi Island, operated by a government contractor, treated a daily average of 33.8 tonnes of chemical waste and 11 tonnes of clinical waste in 2020. Waste producers using its services pay part of the treatment cost.

The government's policy is to return low-level radioactive waste to the original suppliers if possible, hence only some of the waste is transferred for long-term storage to the Low-level Radioactive Waste Storage Facility at Siu A Chau, an uninhabited island southwest of Lantau. This facility is purpose-built to meet stringent international standards for the safe storage of low-level radioactive waste.

T⚫ Park, a sludge treatment facility in Tuen Mun, employs an advanced treatment process to treat up to 2,000 tonnes per day of sewage sludge generated from sewage treatment. It has waste-to-energy facilities to convert the incineration heat to electricity and export the surplus. electricity generated to the public power grid. The plant treated 378,428 tonnes of sewage sludge and exported 2.8 million kWh of electricity in 2020. Its premises, ingeniously designed for environmental education and recreation, have attracted over 270,000 visitors since its opening in 2016.

Construction Waste

A disposal charging scheme provides economic incentives to reduce construction waste, recover and reuse inert materials, and reduce their disposal at landfills. An annual average of 20.8 million tonnes of overall construction waste was generated from 2015 to 2019. The reuse rate was 92 per cent in 2019, having remained above 90 per cent in recent years.

Marine and Shoreline Refuse

Marine refuse within Hong Kong waters is cleared by the Marine Department, which deploys about 80 vessels to scavenge for floating refuse and collect domestic refuse from vessels in the

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