Development
of Organic Waste Treatment Facilities, Phase 2
Environmental Impact
Assessment Report
Chapter Title
In May 2013, the Environment Bureau issued Hong Kong-Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources 2013-2022. The blueprint identifies a need to reduce Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) production by 2022. It specifically identified a need to fill gaps in Hong Kong’s waste related infrastructure and the investment in Organic Waste Treatment Facilities (OWTF).
In December 2005, the
Administration published “A Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal
Solid Waste (2005-2014)” (Policy Framework) recommended that biodegradable
materials (such as food waste) from the commercial and industrial (C&I)
establishments should be separated at source for biological treatment to
produce useful products.
In
2011, Hong Kong disposed of about 3,600 tonnes of organic waste to the
landfills each day, of which about 1,000 tonnes were from the C&I sources,
such as restaurants and food processing industries. The disposal of such
biodegradable waste direct to landfills is not sustainable as it leads to
depletion of the limited landfill void space, and the formation of landfill gas
and leachate that impose long-term environmental burden on the environment.
The
Environmental Protection Department (EPD) commissioned a Pilot Composting
Facility at the Kowloon Bay Waste Recycling Centre in 2008 for the collection
and processing of source-separated food waste from the C&I
establishments. Building on the experience of the Pilot Facility, the
Administration plans to develop OWTFs in two phases with a total daily
treatment capacity of about 500 tonnes of organic waste. The OWTFs would adopt
biological technologies (composting and anaerobic digestion) to turn the
organic waste to useful compost products and biogas for energy recovery
The
first OWTF Phase 1 is planned for construction at Siu Ho Wan,
Lantau to treat 200 tonnes of source separated
organic waste (mostly food waste) every day. Its EIA was approved under the EIA
Ordinance in February 2010. According to the Blueprint for Sustainable Use of
Resources 2013-2022, the OWTF Phase 1 is expected to commence operations in
2016.
Following the Government’s review of the Policy Framework action agenda
in 2011, a decision was taken to further address
Mott MacDonald Hong Kong Limited (MM) has been commissioned by EPD to
carry out the second OWTF Project to develop Organic Waste Treatment Facilities
at Sha Ling under Agreement No. CE 34/2011(EP).
Throughout the document the assignment is referred to at the Organic Waste
Treatment Facilities, Phase 2 (OWTF2). The Project commenced on 20 December
2011, will last for a period of 36 months and comprise four Phases:
¡ Phase 1 – Feasibility and Environmental Impact Assessment (
¡ Phase 2 – Tender Document Preparation;
¡ Phase 3 – Prequalification of Tenderers; and
¡ Phase 4 – Tender Evaluation and Contract Documents Preparation.
This
document is the Environmental Impact Assessment (
The purpose of the Project is to identify and adopt proven biological treatment technologies to recover reusable materials and energy, such as compost, heat, electricity and biogas from source-separated organic waste which is currently being disposed of at landfills. The OWTF2 will be constructed and operated in Sha Ling, North District.
The
Project is a designated project under Item G.4 of Part I, Schedule 2 of the
An EIA Study Brief (No.
ESB-226/2011) has been issued by the Director of Environmental Protection
(DEP) to carry out an EIA study for the Project. As per the requirement
in Section 1.6 of the
¡
The acceptability of adverse environmental consequences that are likely
to arise as a result of the Project, as well as other interfacing projects in
the vicinity of the Project;
¡
The conditions and requirements for the detailed design, construction
and operation of the Project to mitigate against adverse environmental
consequences wherever practicable; and,
¡
The acceptability of residual impacts after the proposed mitigation
measures are implemented.
As per the requirement in Section 3.4 of the
The objectives of the
¡
to describe the Project together with the requirements, implementation
programme and any phasing programme for carrying out the Project;
¡
to identify and describe elements of the community and environment
likely to be affected by the Project and/or likely to cause adverse impacts to
the Project and associated works, including both the natural and man-made
environment and the associated environmental constraints;
¡
to provide information on the consideration of alternatives (such as
location / siting of the Project, size, layout, configuration, shape and design
of the Project; scale, scope, extent, programme, sequence, method of
construction and use of biogas) with a view to avoiding or minimising the
potential adverse environmental impacts on environmentally sensitive areas and
other sensitive uses and to compare the environmental benefits and disbenefits
of each of the different options; to provide reasons, justifications and
constraints for selecting the preferred option;
¡
to identify and quantify emission sources and determine the significance
of impacts on sensitive receivers and affected uses with respect to air
quality, noise, water quality, waste management implication, ecology, fisheries
impacts, landscape and visual, hazard to life and sites of cultural heritage;
¡
to identify any negative impacts on sites of cultural heritage and to
propose measures to mitigate these impacts;
¡
to identify and quantify any potential ecological impacts arising from
the construction and operation of the Project and to propose measures to
mitigate these impacts;
¡
to identify and quantify any potential fisheries impacts arising from
the construction and operation of the Project and to propose measures to avoid
in the first instance or mitigate these impacts if the Project would affect any
active or inactive fishponds;
¡
to identify any potential landscape and visual impacts and to propose
measures to mitigate these impacts;
¡
to describe the composition of the biogas, location / quantity / design
of the biogas storage, operation of the biogas system and the safety measures
to be adopted;
¡
to propose measures to avoid or the provision of infrastructure or
mitigation measures to minimise pollution, environmental disturbance and
nuisance during construction and operation of the Project and associated works;
¡
to investigate the feasibility, practicability, effectiveness and
implications of the proposed mitigation measures;
¡
to identify, predict and evaluate the residual environmental impacts
(i.e. after practicable mitigation) and the cumulative effects expected to
arise during the construction and operation of the Project in relation to the
sensitive receivers and potentially affected uses;
¡
to identify, assess and specify methods, measures and standards to be
included in the detailed design, construction and operation of the Project
which are necessary to mitigate these environmental impacts and reduce them to
acceptable levels;
¡
to investigate the extent of the secondary environmental impacts that
may arise from the proposed mitigation measures and to identify constraints
associated with the mitigation measures recommended in the
¡
to design and specify
environmental monitoring and audit requirements to check the effective
implementation of the recommended environmental protection and pollution
control measures.
The EIA covers the Project proposed in the
Project Profile (April, 2011). The
¡ the potential air
quality impact and noise impact from the construction and operation of the
Project on the existing, committed and planned nearby sensitive receivers
taking into account the cumulative impact from the construction and operation
of existing, committed and planned sources of pollution in the vicinity of the
Project;
¡ the potential hazard
to life due to generation, transfer, storage and usage of biogas on the
existing, committed and planned off-site population;
¡ the potential
impacts to water quality and ecological habitat due to the discharge of
stormwater, surface runoff and treated effluent generated from the facilities
during the construction and operation phases, taking into account the cumulative
impact from the construction and operation of existing, committed and planned
projects in the vicinity of the Project;
¡ the potential
aquatic and terrestrial ecological impacts arising from the construction and
operation phases, including loss of habitats, removal of vegetation, the impact
and disturbance to animals and plants and identify and evaluate all direct,
indirect and cumulative impacts resulting from the proposed Project during the
construction and the operation phases;
¡ the potential
impacts of various types of wastes to be generated from the construction and
operation of the Project and the potential waste management issue associated
with the use of filling materials such as inert Construction and Demolition
Material (C&DM) during construction of the Project;
¡ the potential
fisheries impacts arising from the construction and operation of the Project;
¡ the potential
landscape and visual impacts during the construction and operation of the
Project on the nearby sensitive receivers;
¡ the potential
impacts from the Project on sites of cultural heritage from construction and
operation of the Project; and,
¡ the potential cumulative environmental impacts of the
Project, through interaction or in combination with other existing, committed
and planned projects in the vicinity of the Project. Particular attention shall
be focused on those impacts identified to have a bearing on the environmental
acceptability of the Project.
The
relevant aspects of the existing environment have been identified and described
to provide a baseline for the identification and prediction of potential
impacts which are likely to arise from implementing the Project. Baseline environmental surveys were
undertaken and relevant reports / documents have been reviewed (and information
incorporated where appropriate) to determine the existing environmental
conditions at the Project site and all surrounding areas likely to be affected
by the Project.
Individual
aspect assessments have been undertaken in accordance with the relevant
guideline on assessment methodology from the EIAO-TM. Digital models have been
used to quantitatively predict environmental impacts for air quality and noise
during the construction and operation phases. The modelling predictions have
been based on approved / recognised local and international methods as
described in the relevant sections of this report.
The
methodologies used in the assessments have previously been applied in similar
EIA studies in
The
designs have been developed to proactively avoid impacts in the first instance.
Thereafter, mitigation has sought to control, reduce and minimise or remedy the
impacts. The effectiveness of the proposed mitigation has been assessed and any
residual environmental impacts have been identified and considered for their acceptability.
An
implementation schedule for the mitigation measures has been prepared for each
mitigation measure, which identifies when and where it is required, the parties
responsible for its implementation and where necessary, for its maintenance.
Following this introductory section, the remainder of this
¡
Section 2 presents a
description of the Project;
¡
Section 3 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Air Quality Impact Assessment;
¡
Section 4 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Hazard to Life Assessment;
¡
Section 5 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Noise Impact Assessment;
¡
Section 6 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Water Quality Impact Assessment;
¡
Section 7 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Waste Management Implications;
¡
Section 8 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Ecological Impact Assessment;
¡
Section 9 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Fisheries Impact Assessment;
¡
Section 10 presents the
approach and methodology to and findings of the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment;
¡
Section 11 presents the approach
and methodology to and findings of the Cultural
Heritage Impact Assessment;
¡
Section 12 presents the Environmental Monitoring and Audit
Requirements;
¡
Section 13 presents the Conclusions and Recommendations of the
¡ Section 14 presents the Implementation Schedule of Mitigation Measures.