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Private sector solution
for Hong Kong
waste
SYDNEY - Hong Kong
plans to roll out an integrated waste management
system with private sector participation to handle
the growing problem of waste disposal. "We plan to
invest in new technology," says Sarah Liao, Hong
Kong's Secretary for Environment, Transport and
Works.
Part of that program will include a
product responsibility scheme, where importers and
suppliers will be responsible for the disposal of
their products such as batteries and tires. "We
feel that if you manufacture or import batteries,
it is your responsibility to recycle and deal with
the waste. But of course, with Hong Kong being
such a small place, we have to pool all suppliers
together. They contribute money to the government
and we help deal with the disposal of these
products."
Liao, who was in Sydney in
February for talks with Australian waste
management companies, says Hong Kong has a
pressing problem because it is rapidly running out
of space to dispose of its garbage. "Our landfills
have a life span of four to six years and we are
really rushed to find a solution," she said.
Hong Kong has a recurring expenditure of
HK$6.2 billion (US$794.9 million) on the
environment, which represents just 2.1-2.2% of its
total public expenditure. Additionally, it
allocates capital expenditure to infrastructure
projects, such as sewage treatment plants. To
date, it has spent HK$21 billion, and by 2013 will
have spent another HK$20 billion to implement
Stage II of its sewage treatment project around
the harbor area. Liao says a recurring cost of
HK$1.2 billion on landfill and a refuse transfer
station is part of its waste management budget.
In future, however, the government plans
to involve the private sector, drawing on its
experience and expertise in infrastructure
projects. It will seek tenders from companies
including those from Australia, to put forward a
plan to design, build and operate a new waste
management complex. The government is to allocate
some 20 hectares of land for a waste recovery
park.
Recycling expanded
Hong
Kong has gone beyond sorting household garbage
such as paper and bottles from other garbage and
has begun a pilot program at 13 of Hong Kong's
most densely populated housing estates requiring
residents to do all primary sorting at the source.
The program is now being rolled out to a
total of 87 housing estates. Liao says the
building management provides six bins - for
textiles; metal and aluminium; plastic such as
compact discs; electronic waste; paper; and
bottles. The idea is to separate dry from wet
garbage - something she notes has been done
successfully in Japan. "Last year, we started to
sort out the wet and dry. Once you do that, the
dry becomes much more valuable because it is clean
and can be stored. It cuts down on transportation
costs," she says. The dry rubbish goes to the
refuse transfer stations where further sorting
takes place. The government spends nearly HK$500
million a year on collection.
Air: a
continuing battle
However, a more
intractable problem for Hong Kong is air
pollution. Anecdotally, poor air quality has
started to affect Hong Kong's desirability as a
business center. Liao says the direct costs of
pollution include the HK$1.7 billion annually
spent treating people with respiratory diseases.
Hong Kong's fleet of taxis has been
converted from diesel to natural gas, and some
6,000 mini-buses will be converted by the end of
next year. Already, there has been a measurable
improvement in air pollution on Hong Kong roads.
But air pollution is a cross-border issue. Located
on the doorstep of the global factory of southern
China, Hong Kong bears the brunt of China's
industrialization.
"On a regional basis,
we have seen worsening conditions in the past five
years, especially in winter," Liao says, pointing
out that smog is aggravated by meteorological
conditions which produce photochemical reactions.
"We did an air quality study together with the
Guangdong Environmental Protection Bureau and we
were able to identify an emission inventory of the
key pollutants...we updated [our standards] in
2004 to get closer to international standards for
air pollution." A joint program to reduce four key
pollutants, including sulphur dioxide, by 2010 is
now in place.
"We have identified the
polluting black spots," she says, meaning major
sources of air pollution. Most are coal-fired
power stations. "There are different levels of
concern. Obviously the central government is
concerned that development cannot continue at the
expense of the environment. On a broader policy
level, there is a willingness to clean up
pollution, but when it comes to the economic
impact at the provincial level, of course, the
authorities have to consider balance." She says
the central government is looking to its energy
and transportation policies to try to deal with
the problem. For example, it plans to phase out
older coal-fired power stations and replace them
with natural gas.
Liao says: "The central
government encourages traffic planning to be
rail-based. It will fund inter-city rail systems."
She adds that Beijing recognizes cars as a major
pollution problem. In Guangzhou alone, the number
of cars on the road has doubled in three years to
2.7 million. An important point, she says, is that
the central government recognizes the significance
of new technological advances to deal with
pollution, and that this technology has a place in
[the] development of China's car industry.
"We have an input into China's public
transport policy. Obviously public transport
policy is something in which Hong Kong has been
very successful," she says. Hong Kong's Mass
Transit Railway Corporation, which operates the
city's underground rail system, including the
airport line, has won a contract to build a rail
system in Shenzhen and has the contract to build
the fourth line in Beijing's city rail system.
Ultimately, she says, as living standards rise,
Chinese people will demand a better quality of
life, including cleaner air.
(Asia
Pulse/Asia Today) |
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