Waste recovery and recycling help reduce pressure on landfills.

Ask people on the street what Hong Kong should do about its mounting waste problem, and the answer will range across the board. Recycle, insist many. Landfill, say others. Incinerate, argue a few. The fragmentation of views reflects the complexity of the problem. The current landfills have between six and 10 years left in them at most, but no single measure can address this urgent crisis. Unfortunately, people tend to support only those solutions that best suit their interests or beliefs. What is being lost in the debate is an appreciation of the fact that waste management is a package of interconnected elements.

Take recycling. Although it can reduce waste arisings, some waste is not recyclable and final disposal outlets are still needed to deal with the remainder. The same is true of incineration which, while able to reduce the volume of waste, cannot eliminate it entirely. Landfilling is also not a solution on its own because landfills have a finite life that can only be extended through proper use of landfill space by disposing only non-recyclable waste materials there. All these elements link together and they are all needed to create a sustainable waste management strategy.

Hong Kong waste being disposed of at landfills.

Hong Kong's waste arisings have been growing well beyond our expectations since the early 1990s. Part of the problem is construction waste, which comprises 38 per cent of the waste going to landfills. Another factor has been growing municipal waste loads and per-person contributions. Like other developed countries, we have become more wasteful as we have become wealthier. Currently, about 6.4 million tonnes of waste are deposited at landfills each year, including 2.4 million tonnes of construction waste. About 40 per cent of municipal solid waste is recycled, but most of this is from commerce and industry. Only 14 per cent of domestic waste is recycled.

The SENT Landfill at Tseung Kwan O.

The growing waste loads have meant landfills are filling up faster than expected. Three strategic landfills were built in the 1990s to meet stringent environmental requirements. They were meant to last until 2020, but they will be full within six to 10 years, about the time it takes to build new facilities. The EPD therefore is working strenuously to ensure Hong Kong does not run out of space for its garbage.

The 3 legs to a sustainable waste management strategy.

Immediate solutions are being identified to extend existing landfills urgently and reduce construction waste at landfills. At the same time, a longer-term, more sustainable strategy is being devised. This involves a combination of public education programmes, waste reduction and recycling initiatives, new integrated waste management facilities and new landfill space. Take one of these components away and the strategy will not work.

The EPD's most urgent priority is to make the existing landfills last as long as possible, so there is enough time to implement longer-term solutions. Construction waste makes up a large portion of waste disposed of at landfills so reduction efforts are concentrated there. Construction waste charges are considered an important tool to encourage greater reduction, recycling and re-use, and in 2004 the Legislative Council passed a long-awaited bill permitting construction waste charges to be levied.

Construction contractors will pay about $100 per tonne to have construction waste containing more than 50 per cent inert material separated at sorting facilities for recycling and re-use. If they do the sorting themselves, they can deposit inert waste at public fill reception facilities, for later use in reclamation or other purposes, at $27 per tonne. Waste that contains less than 50 per cent inert material can be dumped at landfills at $125 per tonne. The charges, which come into effect in 2005, are expected to reduce construction waste at landfills by about 20 per cent.

The Legislative Council passed an amendment to the Waste Disposal Ordinance in 2004 to levy charges for construction waste disposal at landfills.

At the same time, the EPD is investigating options to extend the existing landfills. Given that it will take many years to identify a suitable location for a new landfill, and that land is scarce in Hong Kong, extensions are considered a practicable, necessary and urgent short-term solution. In 2004, the EPD communicated with relevant stakeholders and developed the scope for feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments on the extension options. These will be undertaken in 2005 and the public will be consulted on the outcome. To aid public understanding of the impacts of the extensions, three-dimensional animation and other visualisation effects will be incorporated into the studies. This is in line with our commitment to promote continuous public involvement in decision-making.

On-site sorting of construction waste materials at a demolition site.

Landfill extensions and construction waste charges can help to avoid a crisis of garbage piling up in the streets, but they will not ease the pressure on finding ultimate, proper disposal outlets for our waste. In the long run, Hong Kong must reduce waste loads from all sources and achieve a sustainable waste management strategy.

		A waste recycling site at Cha Kwo Ling. The recycling industry is a land-hungry one. Since land is expensive in Hong Kong, the EPD has been trying to identify affordable options for recyclers. An EcoPark in Tuen Mun has been proposed, which will provide the recycling industry with 20 hectares of land, long-term. It will also provide the necessary supporting infrastructure, including access roads, drainage systems, a sewage treatment plant, potable water and an electricity supply, as well as designated marine frontage for berthing. 29 short-term tenancies have also been leased to operators since 1999, and progress has been made in securing more attractive sites for these tenancies. They now typically last about five years, as opposed to six months when the programme began. Recent sites have also been paved and are of a good size and in a handy location. The sites are used largely for metal, wood, paper and plastic recycling.

EPD staff brief LegCo members during a visit to the NENT landfill.

A resident deposits waste in the waste separation bins in a housing estate.

Waste avoidance, re-use and recycling are key elements of the government's waste management policy. Having developed measures to promote the reduction of construction waste, the next focus is municipal solid waste. Commercial and industrial waste producers have a good record in recycling their waste, but there is much room for improvement on the domestic front.

For the past six years, the EPD has operated the Waste Recycling Campaign in Housing Estates. Waste separation bins for plastic bottles, aluminium cans and paper have been placed on the ground floors of more than 1 400 estates. However, even more could be done to bring recycling into people's daily lives. Following a pilot scheme to collect recyclable waste on every floor of buildings at 13 housing estates in August 2004, source separation of waste from households will be extended on a territory wide basis starting in 2005. Residents will be encouraged to separate a wide range of recyclable materials, such as tin cans, plastic bags, CDs and toys, in addition to aluminium cans, plastic bottles and paper. Property managers have flexibility to choose the bins or other set ups as appropriate. The pilot scheme has gone well, with initial reports that some estates doubled the quantities of waste recovered.

The government also offers support to the recycling industry. Short-term tenancies of up to seven years have been secured for operators and an EcoPark is planned for Tuen Mun (see box). Suitable recycling technologies for food waste are also being investigated. A study on major food waste producers commenced in 2004 and pilot programmes for on-site treatment will be developed in 2005 (see box). Businesses are also being encouraged to shoulder their responsibilities to the environment through product responsibility schemes and the Wastewi$e Scheme. The former is focusing initially on tyres and rechargeable batteries, while Wastewi$e recognises companies that have reduced their waste.

		Converting food waste for other uses reduces pressure on landfills. Food waste comprises more than 34 per cent of municipal solid waste. Currently food waste is landfilled, at a cost of $150 million per year. Yet this waste can become a resource by turning it into compost, animal feed or other useful products. Several small-scale composting projects have been conducted in recent years, but it was felt a larger study was needed to look into more efficient, larger and more economic treatment systems. In 2004 a study by Baptist University was begun to characterise food waste, interview large waste producers and develop waste management plans for on-site treatment of food waste. So far, several food waste producers have reported that they already use their food waste for other purposes, such as fish feed. Others have expressed great interest in introducing composting. The study will be completed in March 2005.

Avoiding and reducing waste from all sectors of the community helps to ease the burden on landfills, but vast waste loads still remain. Even if Hong Kong can maintain a recycling rate of 40 per cent, another four million tonnes of waste will have to be dealt with each year. This waste is rapidly filling up our landfills and other waste treatment options are necessary to reduce the bulk of the waste.

		Sewage sludge is disposed of at landfills together with municipal solid waste. Apart from dealing with 16 000 tonnes of municipal solid waste and construction and demolition waste each day, our landfills have also been designed to accept various other types of waste. One such type is a by-product from treating Hong Kong's sewage and water - sludge. About 850 tonnes of sludge is produced each day and it is generally very watery. Even after the sludge is de-watered, it is 70 per cent liquid, leading to potential operating problems at landfills. To avoid these problems, and make working conditions safe, the sludge is mixed with approximately 10 times its weight in municipal solid waste. This is not a sustainable solution. A study on sludge treatment in 1999 recommended that volume reduction was the key to resolving our sludge disposal problems, and identified incineration as the best practicable option for Hong Kong. In 2004, the EPD commissioned a consultancy study to investigate the engineering and environmental impacts associated with building a sludge treatment facility in Hong Kong.

The public can learn about integrated waste management facilities on the EPD website.

To accomplish this goal, the EPD has been considering building integrated waste management facilities, which can utilise multiple waste technologies to recover useable materials and/or energy, minimise waste volume and stabilise and sanitise the remaining waste prior to landfilling. An Expression of Interest exercise in April 2002 received 59 proposals on modern waste treatment technologies from local and overseas companies and organisations. To promote a more transparent approach in this technology search, an advisory group and five subgroups (see box) of mostly non-officials from academia, professional bodies, green groups and the business sector, have been studying the options. In November 2004 the possible technologies for integrated waste management facilities were presented to various stakeholders in two view-sharing sessions. The next stage is a full public consultation, which will be held in 2005.

One option is thermal treatment technology, which includes incineration. Many people in the community are uneasy about incineration, but modern-day incinerators are clean-burning and can recover energy from waste. And without this waste treatment option in place, the goal of a sustainable waste management policy for Hong Kong falls apart.

The jogging track at Sai Tso Wan Restored Landfill is paved with recycled materials.

Indeed, pull any piece out of the waste management puzzle and longer-term problems will result. If landfills are built without more recycling and waste treatment, they will soon fill up and we will be back to square one. If recycling and waste reduction are carried out without new landfills, there will be nowhere to deposit the residual waste. Consultations and preparatory work on options for new landfills will start once the landfill extensions are dealt with. In the meantime, it is worth bearing in mind that no matter how much we recycle and reduce waste, we cannot eliminate it entirely.

		The government appointed an advisory group and five sub-groups in 2002 to investigate options for waste treatment. These bodies comprise mostly non-officials, and have agreed on 129 criteria to be considered in assessing the options. The criteria are grouped into environmental factors, social and economic impacts, technology used, as well as consumer and user issues. Specific examples include dioxin and greenhouse gas emissions, employment opportunities and cost. The criteria are being used to assess the 59 Expressions of Interest proposals on waste treatment technologies that were received by the government in 2002. In addition, two view-sharing sessions on possible technologies for integrated waste management facilities were conducted with stakeholders in November 2004. The government intends to consult the public on the options in 2005. Landfill Extension - Public Communication Events in 2004 The EPD has sought early public input on the proposed landfill extensions.   Month Key Events on Public Communication   Feb-Apr Introduced government's intention to conduct a 'feasibility and EIA study' for each of the 3 Landfill Extension Schemes, to relevant District Councils (DC).   Mar & May Provided on-site briefings to DC Members on the environmental performance of the existing landfills, and the need for landfill extension.   Apr-Jun Invited public comments on potential environmental impacts of the three extension schemes, in defining the scope of the EIA studies.   Jul Provided on-site briefings to Legislative Council Members on the environmental performance of the existing Northeast New Territories Landfill, and the need for landfill extension.

Start charging for disposal of construction waste at waste disposal facilities. Begin detailed feasibility and EIA studies on landfill extensions. Consult the public on integrated waste management facilities. Start scheme to export landfill gas from the North East New Territories landfill. Expand mobile phone battery collection to cover all portable rechargeable batteries under the product responsibility scheme. Start a territory-wide roll-out of the scheme to sort domestic waste on each floor of apartment blocks. Award EcoPark Works Contract. Open a storage facility on Siu A Chau for low-level radioactive waste.