Letter to the Editor of SCMP - Response to a letter on waste management

 
Letter to the Editor of SCMP - Response to a letter on waste management

I would like to respond to Mr Michael Lewis’s letter (“Draw up delta refuse strategy”) of April 5.

It has been the general approach internationally for individual jurisdictions to properly treat and dispose of their wastes at the place of generation. That is, each jurisdiction should have its own means to manage the wastes it generates, including household waste. Transboundary movement and disposal of wastes collected from households in the international arena is subject to the Basel Convention which requires a prior consent of the importing jurisdiction to the waste import before the transboundary movement should take effect. China is a signatory to the Basel Convention which is also applied to Hong Kong. Both the Mainland and Hong Kong have implemented the Basel requirements through national and local legislation respectively.

Under the national law of China, import of any waste for disposal is prohibited. The prohibition applies to Hong Kong under the "one country two systems". On the side of Hong Kong, export of household waste is subject to control of the Waste Disposal Ordinance, Cap.354, which refrains the control authority from giving any permit to export of such waste unless the consent of the importing jurisdiction is given. In other words, under the existing laws of the Mainland and Hong Kong, export of household wastes from Hong Kong to the Mainland for disposal is not permitted.

Having said so, the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department has been exploring with the Guangdong Environmental Protection Department for cross-boundary recycling of reusable materials under the purview of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Environmental Cooperation Agreement with a view to reducing the pressure on our limited landfill capacity and improving the resource utilization of the Pearl River Delta region.


Dr Alain LAM
Principal Environmental Protection Officer (Waste Management Policy)
Environmental Protection Department