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Dr Sarah Liao, JP
Secretary for the Environment,
Transport and Works |
We made solid progress in waste and sewage management in 2002. Due to the public's encouraging participation in our waste reduction and recycling programme, we are approaching towards the Government's waste reduction targets. The recycling rates of municipal solid waste and domestic waste have gone up respectively to 36% and around 13% in 2002. We also succeeded in arresting the growth of municipal solid waste disposed of in landfills for three consecutive years since 2000, reversing the 3.5% annual growth rate before 2000.
We witnessed significant improvement in the water quality of Victoria Harbour, particularly in the Eastern and Central Harbour, following the full commissioning of Stage I of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme in late 2001. The Stage I system treats 1.4 million cu.m. of sewage daily and stops some 600 tonnes of sludge from entering our Harbour.
In 2002, we continued to make good progress in our work to reduce motor vehicle emissions. Nearly 95% of our taxi fleet now run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). We have retrofitted 24 000 older light diesel vehicles with emission reduction devices. Since April 2002, ultra low sulphur diesel has become our new statutory motor diesel standard. In August 2002, we launched another incentive scheme to encourage the early replacement of existing diesel light buses with environmental cleaner models that run on LPG or electricity. We have also started another programme since December 2002 to retrofit older heavy diesel vehicles with emission reduction devices. Our efforts are bearing fruits: compared with 1999, the concentrations of particulates and nitrogen oxides at the roadside had fallen by 19% and 16% respectively in 2002.
To tackle the regional air pollution problem, we reached a consensus with the Guangdong Provincial Government in April 2002 to reduce, on a best endeavour basis, the emissions of the four major pollutants in the ambient air by such levels as will enable the two places to meet their air quality objectives. The two Governments will strive to achieve the emission reduction targets by 2010. An expert group has been set up by the two Governments to take the necessary improvement measures forward.
Having said so much about the past year, let's look ahead to the future. I am confident that what we did in 2002 will reap harvest in the years to come. Let's join hands to work for a better environment for Hong Kong.
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Dr Sarah Liao, JP
Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
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