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Press
Releases - 2000
Government
and Greenpeace share concerns on environmental issues
The Government
and Greenpeace share concerns on a number of environmental
issues, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department
(EPD) said today (March 24).
The Environmental
Protection Department met with representatives of Greenpeace
and some members of the local community this afternoon to
discuss their concerns about waste management strategy in
Hong Kong.
EPD officers
attending the meeting were the Assistant Director of Environmental
Protection (Waste Facilities), Mr John Rockey, and the Principal
Environmental Protection Officer (Facilities Planning), Dr
Ellen Chan.
Also
present at the meeting today was the Principal Assistant Secretary
for the Environment and Food, Mr Steve Barclay.
The spokesman
said that Greenpeace was calling for the environmentally responsible
handling of waste. This is precisely the objective of the
Government too.
"We both
agree that the first priority is to reduce the amount of waste
that is produced and to find practical ways to avoid potentially
harmful materials entering the waste stream.
"We are
also in complete agreement about the need to separate material
from the waste stream to increase reuse and recycling," he
said.
The spokesman
pointed out that there was much more that could be done in
Hong Kong on this front and this was the priority for our
programme at the moment.
"The
only difference we have is over the amount of material that
can be recovered for reuse," he said.
"From
our assessment of the nature and volume of waste material
produced in Hong Kong, it is clear that even if are very effective
in waste avoidance and material recovery, we are still going
to be left with significant quantities of waste material that
require proper treatment and disposal.
"We have
a choice as to how to handle this. Either we continue to put
it straight into landfills, which will require large additional
landfill sites to be found in future years.
"Or we
can process it to recover energy and reduce the waste volume
significantly. This will reduce the requirement for new landfills
and provide a resource for the community," the spokesman noted.
He said
studies were being conducted on the use of waste-to-energy
incineration and the public would be consulted. No views have
been formed on the issue and it is too early to talk about
site selection.
The Government
fully appreciates the need to ensure that any waste processing
facilities do not themselves pose environmental risks to the
community.
"This
is why we have closed down old incinerators that did not have
adequate safeguards.
"This
is also why we have been restoring old landfills and making
sure that our new ones collect and treat all leachate and
gas, and operate the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre on Tsing
Yi Island to the highest regulatory standards in the world,"
the spokesman added.
End/Friday,
March 24, 2000
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