Introduction

The public fill reception facilities every day receive over 40,000 tonnes of Construction and Demolition (C&D) materials generated by the local construction industry. In the area of public works, C&D materials have been reused in reclamation projects or as recycled aggregates in construction works.

However, there are situations where depositing of C&D materials is carried out illegally on Government land or on private land without the consent of the concerned land owners. Even if the depositing activities are on private land with the consent of the concerned owners, when such activities contravene the statutory plans, cause adverse environmental impacts, hygiene problems or resulted in unstable slopes affecting safety of adjacent buildings or land, they are in breach of the town planning, environmental, buildings, drainage, public health or public safety legislation. There are also circumstances that depositing of C&D materials becomes an eyesore and have caused environmental degradation in the rural New Territories. There are increasing public concern and calls for Government to extend further control on such activities and to enhance inter-departmental co-ordination in tackling the problem.

• Land filling refers to depositing or placement of construction and demolition (C&D) materials as fill material on land, which results in an elevation of ground level. This also includes filling of watercourse, such as streamcourse, pond, etc. Land filling activities are usually carried out for purposes of filling up ponds; leveling off uneven ground surfaces; forming site for development e.g. landscaping, roads, village houses, car parks or recreation facilities; stockpiling in the form of a fill bank; or depositing of C&D materials onto land as dumping ground. Illegal land filling takes places when it contravenes the relevant legislation or when it is carried out on land without proper authorization of the Government authorities or consent from the land owners/occupiers. It does not include depositing of C&D materials at Government disposal facilities, e.g. public fill bank, or beneficial use of the materials for reclamation and earth filling projects in accordance with the relevant Government regulations.

• Fly-tipping refers to illegal depositing of C&D materials, which is often associated with haphazard and casual dumping from vehicles. Fly-tipped C&D materials are usually scattered, left in heaps, and in small quantities. Most of these illegal dumping activities take place in urban built-up areas as well as rural locations with good vehicular access, such as at kerb sides or side roads branched off from main roads.