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New
sites awarded to help waste recycling industry
The Government
today (Wednesday) announced that two sites in the former Kai
Tak Airport have been awarded through tender to help the waste
recycling industry.
The first site, namely the Main Fire Station of about 15,000
square metres, was awarded to the Hong Kong General Association
of Recycling Business for a fixed term of three years renewable
quarterly. The successful bidder represents the major interest
of the waste paper collectors in Hong Kong.
The second
site is the Old Fire Station of about 4,000 square metres.
It was awarded to Wai Hung Metal Ho, a local metal scrap collector,
for a fixed term of one year renewable quarterly.
It is
expected that the tenants will process 10,000 tonnes of waste
paper and 1,800 tonnes of metal scrap every month at the Main
and Old Fire Station respectively.
A Government
spokesman said this special land allocation arrangement was
in line with the objectives of the Waste Reduction Framework
Plan to allocate affordable land for recycling purposes.
He said
the arrangement was made in response to the requests from
the waste paper trade for sites in the urban area for storage
and baling operations, and it was well received by the recyclers.
"According
to the Waste Reduction Framework Plan announced in November
last year, we encourage materials re-use, recovery and recycling
to help achieve waste reduction.
"As
the profit of waste recovery and recycling is often marginal,
leasing land exclusively to waste recyclers could lower their
operating cost. This would help promote the local recycling
activity in Hong Kong," the spokesman said.
"The
sites in Kai Tak are conveniently located. They were open
for bidding by all recyclers with priority given to waste
paper recycling practitioners.
"We
also require the tenants to recycle at least 30% of their
material from local sources. This would help achieve waste
reduction objective under the Waste Reduction Framework Plan,"
he said.
The spokesman
added that "We have already let out two lots in the New
Territories for metal and plastic recycling activities in
1998, and we are looking for additional sites to release later
in the year."
End/Wednesday,
June 16, 1999
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