|
Chapter 2. The Problem
- Need for Firm Action |
|
Shrinking Options,
Growing Costs |
| 14. |
In 1989, the Government made the critical
decision to abandon an out-dated system of urban incinerators located
at Kwai Chung, Kennedy Town and Lai Chi Kok and 13 small, inadequate
landfills. Our MSW management system currently relies on three large,
state-of-the-art strategic landfills in remote parts of the New Territories
together with a network of refuse transfer stations (RTSs) and collection
services provided by both the Government and private sector. The common
perception is that landfills are merely dumps at which solid waste
is buried. In fact, they are scientifically designed and highly engineered
facilities for managing waste disposal. |
| 15. |
Hong Kong's three strategic landfills are:
| • |
The West New Territories (WENT)
Landfill at Nim Wan; |
| • |
The South-East New Territories (SENT) Landfill
in Tseung Kwan O; and |
| • |
The North-East New Territories (NENT) Landfill
at Ta Kwu Ling. |
These three strategic landfills came on line in 1993, 1994, and 1995
respectively as the retiring landfills and incinerators were phased
out by 1997. |
| 16. |
Hong Kong's waste arisings have exceeded the
expected amount. At the time the three-landfill strategy was implemented,
it was forecast that the daily amount of waste1 to be
disposed of at landfills would rise from 12,500 tonnes in 1989,
to 14,000 tonnes in 1997 and 16,700 tonnes by 2001. But by 1997
the three strategic landfills were already taking in 16,000 tonnes
of waste every day. Should this trend continue, the landfills will
be full by 2015, instead of lasting until 2020 as they were designed
for. |
| |
1This comprised
MSW, construction waste and some special waste (e.g. sewage sludge). |
| 17. |
Our landfills
take up in total 270 ha. of land, cost $6 billion to construct, and
their running costs in 2004 amounted to $432 million. The annual
costs of the Government's waste collection and transfer service amount
to another $435 million and $355 million respectively. The simple
truth is that if we do not reduce the growth in the amount of waste
that we produce, then, given the lead time to develop a modern landfill,
within the next few years we will have to identify about 400 hectares
of space for new landfills to serve Hong Kong up to 2030. This is
equivalent to slightly less than one-third the area of Hong Kong International
Airport, or is enough land to absorb and house half of Hong Kong's
population growth for the next decade. |
| 18. |
The full costs of managing
MSW are hidden from the community. While calculating the annual
costs of handling and disposing of Hong Kong's waste is not an exact
science, reliable data exist on which reasonable estimates can be
based. The figures obtained, however, are still well below the true
cost to the community for such services. They do not, for instance,
factor in the opportunity costs of the restored landfills and their
maintenance costs, and also omit:
| • |
The costs of removing
MSW from individual housing units to refuse collection points
(RCPs); |
| • |
The removal costs incurred by
commercial and industrial concerns; |
| • |
The capital costs and land
value of some 1,000 or so public and private RCPs; and |
| • |
The land value of the seven
RTSs each occupying more than one hectare in the urban area,
Shatin, Yuen Long and North Lantau, as well as several smaller
RTSs on the outlying islands. |
|
| 19. |
The greatest significance is that the costs of
dealing with MSW are mostly not borne by those who produce the waste.
This is because:
| • |
Private owners,
tenants and Home Ownership Scheme residents usually see the
cost of waste collection in their building management fees (estimated
at about $20 to $50 per household per month), but this represents
only the first step in handling MSW. |
| • |
Commercial and industrial entities
pay for the removal of their MSW. While a small number of private
waste collectors use the RTSs, they contribute to only 2% of
the recurrent costs of the RTSs. Most of the subsequent handling
and disposal costs are paid from the public purse. Those who
send their waste direct to the landfills do not pay the landfill
disposal costs at all. |
|
| 20. |
Most of the costs of MSW disposal are being paid
for out of the public revenue and the costs appear insignificant or
even non-existent for most waste producers. There are virtually no
incentives for anyone to recycle or reuse waste that they produce,
or to reduce the volume of material, because they are not being made
to pay directly for what they are throwing away. |
| 21. |
The free waste management service in Hong Kong
not only provides no incentives for the general public to avoid waste,
but also affects the growing costs for disposal. That MSW producers
do not have to pay to dispose of their waste is not conducive to the
development of the recycling industry. At the same time, all the hidden
costs paid for by taxes make it hard for the general public to appreciate
how cost-effectively MSW collection and management services are being
run. |
| 22. |
The stark truth is that
we need to generate less waste. This will require concerted
efforts of the whole community, with the guidance of firm policies.
How we achieve this is the purpose of the Policy Framework. |
|
Where Does Our Waste Come From? |
| 23. |
To better explain this strategy, it
is necessary to first describe MSW and where it comes from. There
are three sources of MSW:
| • |
Domestic
- this includes households and institutional premises. Waste
collected from residential buildings, public litter bins, streets,
marine areas and country parks also comes under this category. |
| • |
Commercial -
this includes shops, restaurants, hotels, offices, and markets
in private housing estates. Most of this waste is collected
by private waste collectors. Sometimes, commercial waste is
mixed with domestic waste and is collected by the Government
as a public service. |
| • |
Industrial
- this covers all industries, except construction and chemical
activities. Industrial waste is usually collected by private
contractors. Some companies may deliver their waste directly
to landfills for disposal. |
|
| 24. |
In 2004, Hong Kong produced 15,480 tonnes of
MSW per day. Expressed in another way, this equates to each person
generating 2.25 kg of MSW that must be recovered, recycled or, if
these two options are not carried out, be disposed of every day.
The following breakdown shows what was in Hong Kong's MSW in 2004: |
| 25. |
Paper and plastics make up significant proportions
of domestic waste, and this is a reflection of our particular lifestyle
choices that place a premium on convenience and attach inappropriate
and inadequate costs to the impacts of these materials. |
| 26. |
Another notable factor is that about a quarter
of MSW consisted of putrescibles, or primarily food waste. If poorly
handled, this biodegradable waste can pose serious public health challenges.
Furthermore, this kind of waste when landfilled contributes significantly
to emissions of methane gas, one of the recognised causes of the greenhouse
effect. |
| 27. |
Adding greatly to these MSW problems and intensifying
the urgency is the fact that while our population has grown an average
of only 0.9% each year over the past nine years, over the same period
it has generated an annual average of 3.0% more MSW. This means
that each individual is producing more waste each year and increasing
the burden on our scarce and precious land and our own pockets.
This worrying trend is shown below. |
|
What Has Been Done So
Far? |
| 28. |
There is a growing awareness that there are
many sound social, environmental and economic reasons for creating
less waste. By producing less waste, we ease our reliance on landfills
and the need to devote more valuable and scarce land to waste. More
importantly, reducing waste eases the burden on public funds and
allows resources to be reallocated to ease the load on Hong Kong's
other pressing needs like health care and education. Reducing MSW
furthermore contributes significantly towards our broad vision for
sustainable development. |
| 29. |
Many of these key points were captured in the WRFP.
The development of the WRFP took stock of policy developments and
technological innovations and focused on three areas that had become
the cornerstone of the Government approach, namely, waste prevention,
institutional arrangements and waste bulk reduction.
| • |
Waste
prevention - this aims at reducing the amount of waste
generated at source and increasing the amount of waste material
that is reused, recovered or recycled. It identifies the domestic
waste stream as having the greatest scope for improvement; |
| • |
Institutional
arrangements - this involves setting up the institutional
structures to oversee waste reduction and the legislative measures
to make participation in some waste reduction measures mandatory;
and |
| • |
Waste
bulk reduction - this aims at reducing the bulk of waste
requiring final disposal and so maximises the usable life of
our three landfills and reduces the amount of new land needed
for waste disposal in the future. |
|
| 30. |
We have made progress in several areas. Recognising
the need to champion these issues at the highest level, a Waste
Sub-Committee has since been formed under the Advisory Council on
the Environment (ACE), the highest standing body on Hong Kong's
environmental matters, to actively debate MSW policy measures. In
the Government, the merging of the Environment Branch of the Environment,
Transport and Works Bureau with the Environmental Protection Department
has further strengthened the resolve to tackle MSW (as well as other
environmental issues) through combining the resources of the Bureau
and the Department to provide a more effective institutional arrangement
for overseeing waste reduction programmes. |
| 31. |
Hong Kong already has a MSW recycling
rate of 40% but this can be further improved upon. The Government
and the community have begun to pursue various initiatives at different
levels:
| • |
The Government,
together with the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC)2,
has run a good number of environmental programmes for different
sectors of society to change people's habits, especially regarding
MSW separation at source and recycling. Outreach programmes
started in the early 1990s, when environmental awareness was
low and there were no large-scale recycling programmes. After
a decade of venturing into the community, the situation has
been reversed; most sectors of society are recycling and many
are initiating their own environmental events. |
| • |
The Government has been examining
waste recovery systems to identify the most cost-effective and
suitable mode. Some 28,000 three-coloured waste separation bins
are now placed at some 9,300 points throughout the territory
(including parks, sports venues, leisure and cultural facilities,
Government buildings, hospitals, clinics, public/private housing
estates, schools, RCPs and by the roadside) and altogether 663,000
tonnes of MSW have been collected for recycling through this
scheme since 1998. |
| • |
A 12-month pilot programme
on source separation of domestic waste was launched in August
2004 in 13 housing estates in the Eastern District. The pilot
programme aimed at making it more convenient for residents to
separate domestic waste at source by encouraging and assisting
property management companies to provide waste separation facilities
on each floor of all buildings. The programme also aimed at
expanding the types of recyclables to be collected to include
all types of plastics, metals, paper, clothing and electrical
products. In view of the positive results recorded under the
pilot programme, a territory-wide campaign was rolled out in
January 2005 to promote separation of domestic waste at source. |
| • |
The Government has been promoting
the use of reusable bags to reduce the consumption of disposable
plastic shopping bags. Schemes have been run by major retail
chains to encourage the public to use reusable bags instead
of plastic bags. The territory-wide separation of domestic waste
at source scheme has also encouraged the source separation of
plastic bags for recycling. |
| • |
Businesses have been partnering
with green groups and the Government to recover and recycle
rechargeable batteries - a first for Hong Kong in encouraging
producer responsibility. With businesses providing the recovery
and recycling components, the public has access to more than
1,000 collection points in shops, housing estates, public buildings,
schools and other public places at which to leave their rechargeable
batteries that have reached the end of their useful lives. |
| • |
Campaigns such as the "Eco-friendly
packaged mooncakes" have marked success in raising the
awareness of the community on the importance of avoiding excessive
packaging. |
| • |
Trial schemes have been conducted
to collect scrap tyres and waste electrical and electronic equipment
(WEEE) including computers. |
| • |
To help the recycling industry,
29 short term tenancy (STT) sites exclusively for the recycling
trade have been leased to provide affordable land resources
to support recycling companies. |
| • |
Most public and some private
housing buildings built after 1995 have refuse rooms on each
floor which can be used to house recycling bins. Since 2000,
the planning requirements have included the mandatory provision
of adequate space at the ground floor for refuse storage and
material recovery chambers for waste separation. However, the
provision of a refuse storage or a material chamber on each
floor is not yet a mandatory requirement, although an incentive
is provided by way of exemption from gross floor area calculation. |
| • |
The introduction of the construction
waste charges in 2005 marks a key milestone in gaining the community's
acceptance of the need for the "polluter- pays" principle
to reduce waste generation. |
| • |
Expressions of interest have
been invited from the local and the international waste management
industries for the development of large-scale waste management
facilities in Hong Kong. |
|
| |
2 The
Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) has been running since 1990
to promote public awareness of environmental issues and encourage
the public to contribute actively towards a better environment. Since
its establishment, the ECC has planned and organised many environmental
events and activities for different sectors of the community.
|
| 32. |
However, it has become clear that there is a need
to move towards a more integrated approach. We have achieved a 40%
recovery rate based on these initiatives and to realise future targets,
we now need a more integrated approach to our MSW problems. As a community
we must adopt a collective approach to manage our waste in a sustainable
manner. We must invest now in the future. |
|
The Government
Acts : A Strategy for MSW Management |
| 33. |
In the light
of the seriousness and urgency of the issues, the Government recognises
its responsibility for leading the community in finding the solutions.
In May 2005, the Government published A First Sustainable Development
Strategy for Hong Kong (May 2005) in swift and direct response to
the concerns articulated in the SDC's report on the engagement process.
The speed of its response reflected its recognition of the urgency
that the community at large placed on the pilot areas. |
| 34. |
The Government has outlined clear and socially
acceptable objectives for solid waste management: |
| |
Strategic Objective
1 |
| |
| • |
As a community, to make every
effort to avoid generating waste and to reduce the amount
of solid waste that needs final disposal, by adopting measures
to facilitate the separation of discarded material, the recovery
and reuse of material and the recycling of non-reusable material. |
|
| |
Strategic Objective 2 |
| |
| • |
To apply the "user-pays
principle" as a means of reducing volumes of waste for
disposal. |
|
| |
Strategic Objective 3 |
| |
| • |
To adopt advanced technologies
and practices to treat waste requiring final disposal and
to create new economic opportunities. |
|
| Table 2. The Government's strategic objectives
on MSW |
| 35. |
In order to move towards these strategic
objectives, the Government has committed to achieving the following
targets: |
| |
Target 1 |
| |
| • |
Reduce the amount of MSW
generated in Hong Kong by 1% per annum up to the year 2014,
based on the 2003 levels. |
|
| |
Target 2 |
| |
| • |
Increase the recovery rate
of MSW to 45% by 2009 and 50% by 2014. |
|
| |
Target 3 |
| |
| • |
Reduce the total MSW disposed
of in landfills to less than 25% by 2014. |
|
| Table 3. The 10-year targets for MSW management |
|
Summary |
| 36. |
Achieving long-term sustainable
development solutions in MSW management will require the entire
community to work together to meet the many challenges facing Hong
Kong. |
| 37. |
One of the most pressing challenges is the likely
exhaustion of existing landfill space within the next 6 to 10 years.
With no firmly established precedent for making waste producers
pay, Hong Kong sees its landfills and waste collection and transfer
services as free. This has led to the next pressing challenge: we
need to change our consumption-led lifestyle of casually disposing
of old or surplus items, and to think of how we can avoid creating
"unnecessary" waste. Hence, we each must recognise our
responsibility for avoiding or reducing MSW, in reusing and recycling
materials, and we must contribute to effective waste treatment.
While the Government recognises its responsibility in these areas,
it is essential that the wider community also plays its part. |
| 38. |
The Government can
only serve the community when it has its support in first acknowledging
the presence of a problem and then accepting the solution.
In MSW management, it requires the community to clearly see the
real price for waste management services and to embrace the "polluter-pays"
principle.
|
|