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Press Release
LegCo passes the Waste Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2005
The Legislative Council today (March 29) passed the Waste Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2005 which seeks to impose legislative control on the management of clinical waste and the disposal of imported waste, and to set out in the Waste Disposal Ordinance (WDO) the international ban prohibiting the export of hazardous waste from developed countries (known as the Basel Ban).
The Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, when moving the resumption of the second reading of the Bill, said," As the primary aim of the Bill is to protect public health, it is necessary to implement the Clinical Waste Control Scheme as soon as possible."
The control scheme mainly comprises the following five key elements:
1) establishing a statutory licensing framework for all clinical waste collectors and disposal facility operators;
2) requiring clinical waste producers to properly manage their clinical waste by consigning the clinical waste to licensed clinical waste collectors for delivery to a licensed disposal facility for disposal;
3) promulgating Codes of Practice to provide guidance for clinical waste producers and waste collectors;
4) setting up a trip-ticket system to track the movement of clinical waste from the source to disposal facility; and
5) designating the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre (CWTC) as the facility to treat clinical waste and levying a disposal charge for use of the facility.
The Bill contains provisions to define clinical wastes, and to allow for the licensing of clinical waste collectors and disposal facility operators. The Bill is an enabling legislation. Upon the enactment of the Bill, details of the proposed control will be set out in the new Waste Disposal (Clinical Waste) (General) Regulation.
The Government has carried out an environmental impact assessment on the proposed use of the CWTC and the findings confirmed that incinerating the clinical waste was environmentally sound and safe. The CWTC is also well equipped to treat clinical waste to meet the stringent emission standards.
In order to allay the concerns of the local residents, the Government suggested submitting regular monitoring reports of the CWTC to the Kwai Tsing District Council (KTDC), and employing an independent assessor to provide expert advice to the KTDC on the monitoring report.
The Government aims to implement clinical waste control in mid-2007 subject to the passing of the Regulation.
Apart from clinical waste management, the Bill has also proposed to impose control on the disposal of imported waste and to provide legal backing to the Basel Ban.
It will be an offence for a person to dispose of imported non-hazardous waste without prior authorisation from the Director of Environmental Protection (DEP). The authorisation will only be granted if the applicant can prove that he has exhausted all possible recycling outlets and all means to return his waste to the place of origin, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said.
Any person who, without prior authorisation, disposes of imported non-hazardous waste is liable, for the first offence, to a fine of $200,000 and six months' imprisonment, and for a second and subsequent offence, to a fine of $500,000 and two years' imprisonment.
"Since 1998, we have been implementing the Basel Ban in Hong Kong administratively by exercising the power to approve or refuse the issue of permits by the DEP for the importation of waste," the spokesman said.
The Bill has set out the Basel Ban in clear terms in the WDO and this would send a strong signal to the international community regarding our collaborative effort to enforcing the Basel Ban.
Ends/Wednesday, March 29, 2006
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