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Press
Release
View-sharing
session on future landfill development
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (March 2) convened a session
to exchange views with green groups, academics, professional
experts and relevant organisations on future landfill development
in Hong Kong.
A spokesman
for the EPD said it was important to enlist the participation
of experts and interested groups at the very beginning and
throughout the planning process for future landfill development.
"There is an urgent need to plan for new landfills as the
existing three landfills could be exhausted in 10 to 15 years.
"The
Government is committed to improving Hong Kong's performance
on waste minimisation and recovery for recycling, but even
if we match or surpass the best performances in the world,
there will always be a significant amount of waste that will
still require disposal.
"It is
therefore essential to secure sufficient waste disposal capacity
and start planning for new landfills now," the spokesman said.
The planning
and development of new landfills takes a long time, as numerous
complicated constraints including environmental, socio-economic
and technical factors have to be taken into consideration.
The spokesman
said: "The view-sharing session is a good way to involve key
stakeholders during the early planning stage of long-term
environmental projects to assist the Government in working
out a balanced solution for the way forward."
The participants
were informed of the Government's plans for conducting studies
into potential ways to increase landfill capacity in Hong
Kong and were given an opportunity to express their views.
However,
the spokesman stressed that no sites had been identified yet
for potential new landfills as the view-sharing session was
only the beginning of the whole planning process.
Representatives
from some 20 organisations had been invited to attend the
session which was chaired by the Director of Environmental
Protection, Mr Rob Law. It is envisaged that several more
sessions will be held as the studies proceed.
End/Friday,
March 2, 2001
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