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CS
appeals for green partnership
The Chief
Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, today (Monday)
appealed to the community, including the business sector,
to work in partnership with the government in building a better
environment.
Noting that public awareness on the need to protect the environment
was on a rise, Mrs Chan said the government would take the
lead in building a constructive partnership between the government
and the community.
"Concern
for the environment, and understanding of the need for greater
partnership to develop a more sustainable Hong Kong is now
taking centre stage," she said, adding that Chief Executive
had just placed the environment at the heart of his Policy
Address last week.
"We
welcome this rising interest and we will do all in our power
to guide that interest into effective and constructive partnership
between the Government, business and community to create in
Hong Kong an environment in which we can all be proud of,"
she said.
Mrs Chan
was addressing the opening ceremony for the first batch of
restored landfills held at the former Shuen Wan Landfill where
work has been completed to collect and treat the polluting
leachate from entering Tolo Harbour, as well as collecting
and using landfill gas for use as energy.
The completed
site also includes a golf driving range, which is the first
recreational facility to be built on a restored landfill in
Hong Kong.
She expressed
her appreciation for the work done under the Environmental
Protection Department's Landfill Restoration Programme, which
she said had not only turned derelict waste dump into a valuable
resource for use by the community, but also helped to protect
public health and the environment.
"The
$2.3 billion investment in restoration projects is removing
the potential hazards from old landfills. Treating the leachate
from this landfill, for example, helps to restore the water
quality and ecology in Tolo Harbour," she said.
Mrs Chan
commended the Hong Kong Landfill Restoration Group, the Hong
Kong and China Gas Company, Regional Services Department and
the EPD for setting an example of Government-business partnership
by participating in the restoration, landfill gas utilisation
and afteruse projects.
"It
is the first time we have extracted and used landfill gas
on a commercial scale, capable of delivering one million megajoules
per day as heating fuel. This reduces our use of fossil fuel
and helps reduce the greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere,"
she said.
Mrs Chan
noted that Hong Kong is spending some $800 million every year
to dispose of six million tonnes of waste in landfills, and
the amount of waste and the costs involved were still rising.
"This
is an enormous burden to the community and a threat to our
environment. We must reverse the rising tide of waste."
The Government
will introduce fresh proposals next year to deter unnecessary
dumping in our landfills and to provide economic incentives
for waste reduction and recycling, she said.
"We
will introduce waste bulk reduction facilities such as waste-to-energy
incinerators. We are finalising a feasibility study which
has carefully scrutinised the environmental impacts. We aim
to commission the first incinerator by 2007.
"We
are now examining whether we can establish a permanent recycling
park at Pillar Point Valley Landfill when its restoration
work is completed in 2004," she said.
With these,
and other measures, Mrs Chan said, the government aimed to
reduce the amount of waste produced, increase the extent of
recycling, divert waste away from the landfills and extend
landfill life.
After
the opening ceremony, Mrs Chan toured the gas utilisation
plant and the new golf driving range at the restored landfill
in Shuen Wan.
The Shuen
Wan Landfill is the first closed landfill restored to meet
the latest environmental standards in Hong Kong.
There
are altogether 13 closed landfills in Hong Kong. Eight of
them, including Shuen Wan Landfill, Urban Landfills (five
small landfills in East Kowloon) and two Tseung Kwan O Landfills,
have already been restored.
The restoration
work of the other four landfills in North West New Territories
and Gin Drinker's Bay are underway and are scheduled for completion
by mid-2000. The remaining one, in Pillar Point Valley, is
scheduled to commence by 2002.
End/Monday,
October 11, 1999
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