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Environmentally
Sound Waste Management and Facilities
Waste
management remains a major challenge for the EPD. Landfills are
filling up more quickly than originally planned. We are trying to
find a more sustainable system for managing wastes that looks at
waste reduction and recycling, but it will not be enough to extend
the landfills for any appreciable length of time. Our efforts are
concentrated instead on laying foundations for the future.
In
2001 we handled 6.1 million tonnes of waste at landfills including
2.3 million tonnes of construction waste. We also manage livestock
and chemical waste, sewage and water treatment sludge, and other
difficult wastes.
Waste
Reduction
Landfill
space will run out in 10 to 15 years. The Waste Reduction Framework
Plan was published in 1998 to address the problem. By the end of
2001, 36% of municipal solid waste had been diverted, up from 33
% at the end of 1998. The government announced measures in September
2001 to try to improve the rate. The number of recycling bins in
public places will be doubled from 8 000 to 16 000. Bins are also
in place in more than 1 000 housing estates and more than 800 schools.
A 20-hectare Recovery Park will be built at Tuen Mun Area 38 in
2004. Subject to approval from the Finance Committee of the Legislative
Council in 2002, $100 million will be injected into the Environment
and Conservation Fund to be put towards community-based waste prevention
and recovery programmes.
Chart
of Solid waste disposal in 2001
The
government is trying to take a lead to reduce its wasteloads and
the EPD completed a study in 2001 on products the government should
consider for green purchasing. The private sector is being targeted
through a producer responsibility scheme that will be introduced
in 2002, likely starting with mobile phone battery collection.
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