Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme
l The Waste Disposal (Charges for Disposal of Construction Waste) Regulation [Charging Regulation] and the Waste Disposal (Designated Waste Disposal Facility) (Amendment) Regulation [DWDF Regulation], which set out details of the construction waste disposal charging scheme, were enacted in January 2005.
l The Charging Regulation sets the construction waste disposal charges at $200 per tonne at landfills, $175 per tonne at sorting facilities and $71 per tonne at public fill reception facilities in order to fully recover the capital and recurrent costs of the facilities according to the polluter pays principle.
l Under the charging scheme, a main contractor who undertakes construction work with a value of $1 million or above is required to make an application to the DEP within 21 days after being awarded the contract to establish a billing account. Upon the establishment of the billing account, the main contractor is required to use the account to pay any disposal charges payable in respect of the construction waste generated from construction work undertaken under that contract. A billing account established solely for a construction contract with a value of $1 million or above cannot be used to settle charges arising from other contracts. In addition, to lower the administration costs of managing multiple billing accounts by small and medium contractors, under the Regulation, a contractor may establish one billing account to cover several contracts with a value of less than $1 million each.
l According to charging scheme, an account-holder is required to pay to the DEP all charges payable within 45 days from the day of the notice of demand issued by the DEP. If an account-holder fails to make payment as required within 45 days, he is liable to pay a 5% surcharge. If the account-holder fails to pay the unpaid charges and the surcharge within 14 days, the DEP may suspend the account in question. Upon the suspension of the account, the DEP is required to issue a final notice to the account-holder. If the account-holder fails to pay the unpaid charges and the surcharge within 14 days of the final notice, the DEP may revoke the account.
l When delivering a load of waste to a designated waste disposal facility, the waste hauler appointed by the account-holder is required to produce a valid "chit". The account-holder is required to pay a deposit when he applies to the DEP for such chits and the deposit varies according to the amount of usage. To minimize the financial impact on the trade, a two-tier system is adopted. Under this two-tier system, the deposit for the disposal of construction waste generated from a contract with a value of $1 million or above is charged at a minimum of $15,000 for 200 chits. If additional chits are required, additional deposit on a pro-rata basis has to be paid. For a contract with a value of less than $1 million or other general uses, a deposit of $300 for each chit is required. This amount is determined on the most lenient assumption that all vehicle loads contain inert materials to be disposed of at public fill reception facilities charging at $71 per tonne.
l In addition, the DEP may, on his own initiative or at an account-holder's request, refund the deposit or part of it if the DEP is satisfied that the deposit or that part is no longer required. In making such a decision, the DEP shall have regard to the factors that he considers relevant, including the amount of construction waste that the account-holder proposes to dispose of.
l The Charging Regulation specifies the type of construction waste that may be accepted at the various designated waste disposal facilities. If the construction waste delivered by a waste hauler to a designated waste disposal facility is not of the type that may be accepted at that facility, that waste hauler will be turned away. Under these circumstances, to facilitate the waste hauler's delivery of the waste to the appropriate facility, the staff at the facility will give the waste hauler an entry refusal note (Rejection Advice), which will specify the reason for refusal and the appropriate designated waste disposal facility for the waste to be delivered to. When the waste hauler delivers the waste to the appropriate waste disposal facility, he will not be turned away again.
l For the purpose of enforcing the requirements on inert construction waste content set out in Column 3 of Schedule 2 of the DWDF Regulation, the DEP determines the inert content of waste using a reference table based on the waste depth, the net weights and permitted gross vehicle weights of different types of vehicles. The DEP determines the inert construction waste content according to the criteria set out in the reference table in order to avoid disputes in the enforcement process. The DWDF Regulation requires the DEP to give notice in the Gazette of the criteria adopted for the determination of the inert content of waste.
l According to the charging scheme, if a main contractor who undertakes construction work under a contract with a value of $1 million or above fails to apply to the DEP for the establishment of a billing account within 21 days after being awarded the contract, he will commit an offence and is liable to a fine (maximum $50,000) and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further daily fine of $1,000.
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