The Department and its cleansing contractors have a total workforce of about 8,300 to keep the city clean and provide cleansing services, including street sweeping, waste collection and other cleansing work in Hong Kong. Workers normally begin working at daybreak and continue until late evening. All streets are manually swept at least once everyday. In the main commercial and tourist areas, streets are swept an average of four times a day, and up to eight times a day in the busiest pedestrian areas.
Complementing manual sweeping are 7 nos. of contractor's mechanical sweepers used to cleanse highways, flyovers and central road dividers and other high-use traffic areas. These mechanical sweepers normally swing into action after midnight when there is less traffic. The Department and its cleansing contractors have a total of 92 street washing vehicles also which operate day and night with the frequency of street washing ranging from on need basis to at least 2 times weekly depending on the nature of the area served.
The Department has continued to contract out street cleansing services for greater efficiency and cost-saving.
To
help keep Hong Kong tidy, about 20 000 litter
containers and about 1 000 dog excreta collection bins
are placed on the streets. They are cleared
at least once a day. Moreover, with a view to
promoting public participation in waste reduction
and environmental protection, recyclable collection
bins have now been provided at 793 locations
at public places (see
appended list) including refuse collection
points, public markets, bus termini, MTR exits,
sitting-out areas etc. for the collection of
waste paper, metal containers and plastic materials.
This
Department carries out daily enforcement action
to prosecute littering offenders. To step up
law enforcement to keep Hong Kong clean, the
Fixed Penalty System against the following common
public cleanliness offences is introduced: -
Littering;
Spitting;
Unauthorized
display of bills or posters; and
Fouling
of street by dog faeces.
The
level of fixed penalty is $1,500 effective from
26 June 2003.
During the year of 2007,
there were over 27 000 prosecutions against littering
offences. The convicted cases involved a total fines of
more than $ 36 million.
To
facilitate the public to report cases of the
littering from vehicle, a Littering
From Vehicle - Report Form (in PDF format)
has been introduced by this Department. This
form is obtainable at the District Environmental
Health Offices and the District Offices of the
Home Affairs Department.
Waste
Collection
The Department and its cleansing contractors operate a total of 256 modern refuse collection vehicles. Every day, about 5 336 tonnes of household waste is collected including 1 146 tonnes from Hong Kong Island, 1 623 tonnes from Kowloon and 2 567 tonnes from the New Territories and outlying islands. They are taken to the refuse transfer stations or landfills managed by the Environmental Protection Department.
Roadside gullies are generally cleared manually every two to four weeks. Application of larvicidal oil is done on weekly basis as a precaution against mosquito breeding. Dirt and refuse taken from gullies are delivered to refuse collection points. Gully emptiers are used to clear gully traps on highways and flyovers where manual means will pose danger to life and limb. Such gullies are desilted once every six weeks. The Department currently employs 6 in-house gully emptiers and 7 contractor's gully emptiers to provide gully emptying service, and they are normally employed after midnight when traffic is light. The silt and dirt sucked up into gully emptiers are discharged at refuse transfer stations.
Conservancy
services are still provided to some old tenements
on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon where there
is no sewerage system. 12 specially designed
nightsoil collectors will transport the collected
nightsoil to Sewage Treatment Works of the Drainage
Services Department for disposal. These desludging
vehicles can also be deployed to empty sludge
from septic tanks and aqua privies. Desludging
service for individual members of the public
is provided upon their requests and at a charge.
Poster
Removal
It is an offence to display bills and posters
in any streets or public places throughout Hong
Kong without the permission of the Lands Department
and this Department, or in case of private land,
without the permission of the owner or occupier.
Every day, the staff of the Department will,
in addition to patrolling the streets and removing
unauthorized posters, take out prosecution action
against any person found responsible for placing
such posters.
Where
a bill or poster is displayed on any private
land or on any Government land, the bill or
poster shall be maintained in a clean and tidy
condition.
The
Department has a total of 159 permanent off-street public
refuse collection points (RCPs), 746 village-type RCPs
and some 2,000 bin sites. As regards the permanent off-street
RCPs, there are 46 on Hong Kong Island,
62 in Kowloon and
51 in the New Territories and on outlying islands.
New RCPs, which are visually attractive as well
as odourless, are equipped with water scrubber
systems, vehicle exhaust extraction systems
and high pressure water jet cleaners. In addition,
large-scale turn-tables are installed in certain
RCPs to facilitate the in and out movements
of refuse collection vehicles.
Refuse collection vehicles of the Department and its cleaning contractors will collect household refuse at least once a day
at public refuse collection points which are
in operation from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For
those in busy areas, the operation hours are
extended to 11:30 p.m.. All RCPs receive household
refuse during operation hours. For other category of wastes, public should deliver them to landfills / refuse transfer stations managed by the Environmental Protection Department or public filling facilities managed by the Civil Engineering and Development Department.
Altogether 435 public toilets come under this
Department - 95 on Hong
Kong Island, 63 in
Kowloon and 277 in the
New Territories and on outlying islands.
In addition, there are 419 aqua privies in the
New Territories and on outlying islands. Others,
at parks, beaches and other recreational venues,
are managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services
Department. To improve cost-effectiveness, cleansing
services for all public toilets are contracted
out.
All
public toilets are open 24 hours a day and are
cleansed at least once a day.
The
main features of modern public toilets are as
follows :
the
external design shall be aesthetical and distinctive.
the
toilet areas shall be spacious.
materials
such as large tiles and urinals bowl shall be used for
ease of maintenance.
The
toilet areas shall be provided with sufficient
lighting, both natural and artificial, with
the use of glass block partitions.
ventilation
in the toilet areas shall be enhanced with high
headroom, cross-ventilation windows and ventilation
system to provide a well-ventilated environment.
service
corridors shall be provided at the back of W.C.
cubicles to accommodate pipes, drains, concealed
cisterns and automatic flushing cisterns of
urinals for ease of maintenance.
adequate
and modern facilities shall be provided such
as electric hand dryers and stainless steel
handrails.
toilets
for the disabled shall be provided in the general
toilet areas.
more
facilities, such as small litter bins for disposal
of sanitary napkins and hooks, shall be provided.
baby
napkin changing areas shall be provided in the
toilet areas.
In
order to upgrade old public toilets to the latest
standard of provision, the Department has embarked
on a programme of improvement. In 2007, 6 public
toilets have been upgraded.
The
opening hours of public bathhouses are from
7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30
p.m. daily. The provision of hot water starts
from any day in November every year when the
temperature at 7 a.m. is recorded at 20°C
or below, and stops when the temperature
at 7 a.m. is recorded at 25°C or above for
three consecutive days in April the following
year.
Vehicles
At present, the following specialized vehicles
are used by the Department in cleansing services:
The
Department has a total of 159 permanent off-street public
refuse collection points (RCPs), 746 village-type RCPs
and some 2,000 bin sites. As regards the permanent off-street
RCPs, there are 
the
external design shall be aesthetical and distinctive.
Last
revision date: 01-04-2008