5.2e Environmentally Sound Waste Management and Facilities

The EPD manages Hong Kong’s waste facilities, proposing new facilities be built when necessary. It also manages waste arisings through policies and programmes aimed at reducing waste loads.

Hong Kong is producing growing quantities of waste as its population and wealth increase. In the last five years, the total waste disposed of at landfills, including municipal solid waste, construction waste and special waste such as asbestos waste and sludge but excluding chemical waste, increased by 2.4 per cent per year while the population grew by only 0.8 per cent per year. The increase in waste loads is greater than anticipated, meaning landfills are filling up ahead of schedule.

EPD has facilitated, through the Wastewi$e Scheme and other collaboration programmes, several recycling programmes involving 1 333 housing estates and 1 199 primary and secondary schools, as well as hospitals, hotels, supermarkets, the airport, public transport facilities, and tertiary and vocational institutes. A trial on dry-wet waste separation in four housing estates was launched in March 2003. A review will be conducted upon completion of the pilot scheme in early March 2004 to examine the feasibility, logistics and cost-effectiveness of this form of waste recovery.

Apart from community recycling programmes, another focus of waste reduction is product responsibility. A pilot scheme in which mobile phone operators took back batteries for recycling was conducted in 2002 but had an unsatisfactory response. A trial to extend the collection network to housing estates was started in November 2003 to increase public participation, and will be completed in March 2004. Meanwhile, in 2003 the EPD ran a trial that demonstrated used tyres could be collected for recycling. It also formed a working group on waste tyre management with the Hong Kong and Kowloon Rubber Tyres Commercial General Association.

Pilot schemes that explore operational details and resources requirements for product responsibility arrangements were also commissioned through two community-based partners. The Caritas Youth and Community Service is collecting used computers, while the St James Settlement is collecting electrical and electronic equipment. Items that are still in working condition are donated to the needy and the rest are dismantled to recover materials for recycling. The schemes were well received by the public and more than 25 000 units of computers and electrical appliances were collected, exceeding the 2003 target by more than 30%.

The EPD has also proposed a Recovery Park in Tuen Mun Area 38 and is conducting an environmental impact assessment on the project. The department will proceed to seek approval from the Town Planning Board on land-use rezoning for the site reserved for the park. Private sector involvement is also being sought as there are not enough government resources available to cover recurrent costs.

Construction Waste

Construction waste loads fluctuate depending on whether public filling outlets are available to accept the waste. Even when some outlets are available, significant quantities still end up in landfills. In 2003, construction waste made up 38% of the waste being dumped in landfills.

Chart of Quantity of Construction Waste in 1991-2003.

Two measures were introduced in 2003 to reduce construction waste loads at landfills. A construction waste charging scheme was proposed to the Legislative Council in December, with the hope that it could come into effect in 2005. The EPD proposed to charge $27 per tonne for dumping waste at public fill sites, $100 per tonne for dumping it at sorting centres (provided the waste contains at least 50% inert material) and $125 per tonne for dumping it at landfills. Hong Kong lags behind most other countries in charging for waste disposal.

The second measure was a technical circular issued by the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau in May 2003, requiring all tenders for public works projects to include a waste management plan. The EPD worked consistently to encourage government bureaux and departments to take the lead in diverting waste away from landfills. The circular was prepared by a working group under the Waste Reduction Task Force for the Construction Industry comprising representatives from various sectors of the construction industry, with EPD as one of the active members. Contractors will receive a financial incentive to reduce waste at source, in the form of a dedicated payment for carrying out the plan properly.

Waste Facilities

The study recommended that work start immediately to extend the existing landfills to provide an additional 100 million tonnes of capacity. This recommendation has been accepted and the next step will be a detailed EIA and feasibility study for each of the landfill extensions. The study also proposed a new land-based landfill and a new landfill on an artificial island for further study. This option would provide capacity for another 300 million tonnes of waste.

Waste Treatment
In addition to landfills and waste reduction programmes, the EPD is also exploring waste management options to further reduce the bulk of waste. An invitation for Expressions of Interest in 2002 attracted 59 submissions. In 2003 these were grouped under six types of technology: incineration, gasification, co-combustion, composting, mechanical biological treatment and anaerobic digestion. Several waste management technology options have been formulated for further study by an advisory group whose membership comes from key stakeholders in the community. It is planned to consult the public on the recommendations towards the end of 2004.

Refuse Transfer Stations
The EPD has built a network of eight refuse transfer stations where waste is containerised before being taken by container trucks or marine vessels to landfills. A study in 2003 confirmed that this system is cost-effective because it replaces the large number of trips that would have to be made by refuse collection vehicles to landfills.

Chart of quantity of municipal solid waste disposed of and recovered 1989 to 2003.

Other Waste Issues

Clinical Waste – A clinical waste control scheme was submitted to the Legislative Council in June 2003 and is awaiting approval. Medical professionals would not require a license for storing the waste, but would have to hand it over to a licensed collector for transportation to a final disposal facility.

Risk-Based Remediation Goals (RBRGs) for Contaminated Land – A three-year consultancy cum in-house study resulted in the development of local RBRGs to replace the existing Dutch B standards for the assessment of contaminated land in Hong Kong. Consultation with stakeholders for using the RBRGs is scheduled to begin in the financial year 2004/05.

Electronic Waste – In response to reports that computer waste was being shipped through Hong Kong to Guangdong disguised as ‘used goods’, the EPD contacted the source countries and worked with Mainland officials to clamp down on the problem. Some of these shipments are not allowed under the Basel Convention on transboundary shipments of hazardous waste. One man who was caught with a shipment of waste computer monitors and television sets in Hong Kong was given a two-month jail sentence.

Low Level Radioactive Waste – Work began in 2003 on a facility for storing low-level radioactive waste on Siu A Chau. The facility will open in late 2004.

Photo of An artist's impression of the special facility for low-level radioactive waste.

Landfill Gas – A programme to collect landfill gas for use by utility companies was under discussion in 2003.

Landfill Afteruse – Preparation work to convert the old Sai Tso Wan landfill into a grass pitch for soccer and baseball continued in 2003, with the facility set to open in Spring 2004.

Landfill Restoration –Tenders were invited for work to restore Pillar Point Valley landfill, the last of the disused landfills to be restored.