Seminar on Thermal Waste Treatment
The Seminar on Thermal Waste Treatment held on 7 March 2008 received overwhelming support from the public. About 300 people from the general public, local community groups, green groups, academic and professional institutions, District Councils and Legislative Council attended the seminar to explore the development of advanced thermal waste treatment technologies, the environmental standards employed in advanced countries, and the measures adopted elsewhere to address the concerns of the communities.
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Speech by SEN at the Seminar on Thermal Waste Treatment |
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Mr. Volker Axel WEISS, Head of Section “Waste treatment, landfills” Federal Environmental Agency of Germany Speech title: Role of Thermal Treatment Facilities in Sustainable Waste Treatment Mr WEISS introduced the various legislations for managing waste and explained that waste to energy plants are essential and indispensable element of sustainable waste management. With the advancement in technology, the dioxin emission in Germany has dropped to 1/1000 since 1990 while the amount of waste thermally treated has doubled. |
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Professor Wong Tze-wai, Department of Community & Family Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Speech title: Health Impact of Thermal Treatment Facilities Prof. Wong guided the audience to look at thermal waste treatment from the public health perspective. With modern technology of emission control and stringent monitoring of emissions, no major environmental health problems caused by incinerators have been reported in developed countries nowadays.+ |
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Professor Lam Kin-che, Chariman, Advisory Council on the Environment Director, Centre for Environment Policy & Resource Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong Speech title: Environmental and Social Impact of Thermal Treatment Facilities Prof. Lam addressed the social concerns on ‘Locally Unwanted Alan Uses’ (LULUs) and ‘Not in my backyard’ (NIMBY) and presented the result of a study on the siting of LULUs in Hong Kong. The study consisted of questionnaire surveys that covered both the whole territory and Tuen Mun district. He also introduced “good principles” in promoting LULUs. |
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Mr. Joern Franck, Head of waste to energy plant Stellinger Moor, Stadtreinigung Hamburg, Germany Speech title: Thermal Treatment Facilities and Local Concerns – Experience in the City of Hamburg Mr. Franck went through the history and background of waste treatment in Hamburg, presented examples of individual waste treatment facilities that can meet the environmental standards and clarified some common misunderstanding against thermal waste treatment. |
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Dr. Katsuya Kawamoto, Leader of Recycling and Disposal Engineering Section Research Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management Speech title: Experience of Incinerator Development in Japan Dr. Kawamoto showed that incineration has been a core and well proven technology for MSW treatment in Japan. In addition, he also presented some emerging advanced gasification systems. He further demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of thermal waste treatment to dispose of waste, and at the same time the importance to harness the benefits of energy generation and resources recovery through the thermal waste treatment process. |
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Mr. Holger Schroeder, Managing Director, Dr. Born – Dr. Ermel Speech title: Development of Thermal Waste Treatment Facilities in Larger German Cities and Possible Application to Hong Kong Mr. Schroeder introduced the considerations that need to be taken in developing waste-to-energy plants, explained examples of WTE solutions in some large German cities and provided some recommendations to the application in Hong Kong. |
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Dr. Edmund Fleck, Managing Director of Martin GmbH fur Umwelt, Germany Speech title: Progress in Technology and Construction of Thermal Treatment Facilities in Europe Dr. Fleck described the progress of the thermal treatment technology in Europe, the trend for the increase of usage from the power, electricity and heat, recovered from waste incineration. He explained the common thermal waste treatment technology in Europe is the grate system which is well proven and has undergone further improvement and adaptation to the most stringent international standards. |
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Mr. Abraham Shu, Vice President, Business Development, Asia, Covanta Power International Holding Speech title: Using Energy-from-Waste (Efw) for Managing Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Asia Mr. SHU provided some facts and figures of the employment of energy-from-waste facilities worldwide. He also explained various measures adopted elsewhere to address the concerns of the communities. |
