*********************************************************

Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (December 18) :

Question

It was reported that the Administration plans to launch, in conjunction with a political body, a pilot scheme on the separate collection of wet and dry wastes in some housing estates on Island East next February. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the details and the implementation timetable of the scheme;

(b) whether it has made open invitations or sent invitation letters to interested parties for participating in the scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(c) of the channels available for non-governmental organisations to participate in the scheme?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The pilot scheme on wet/dry waste sorting will be conducted in early 2003 in several housing estates in the Eastern District so as to test the economics and logistics of this form of waste recovery which has been practised in some overseas economies but never in Hong Kong. Under the pilot scheme, dry waste would be separately collected and delivered to a temporary sorting facility at the Island East Transfer Station where recyclables would be recovered for recycling purpose. We are currently working on the detailed arrangements. The scheme is expected to commence in early 2003 and last 12 months. A review will be carried out upon completion of the pilot scheme to examine the feasibility, logistics and cost-effectiveness of this form of waste recovery.

(b) In recent years, the Government has been working closely with community organisations and green groups to try out different waste recovery systems in order to identify the modes that are most cost-effective and best suit local needs. Recently, one organisation has submitted a proposal on promoting recycling by wet/dry waste sorting, and has applied for funding from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) to carry out, among other things, the related educational and publicity work in the housing estates where the pilot scheme is to be implemented. Having considered the capacity of the sorting facility at the Island East Transfer Station and the need to manage within available resources, we have agreed to collaborate with the proponent organisation to carry out the pilot scheme on wet/dry waste sorting.

(c) Funding applications to the ECF is open to all organisations that are interested in carrying out environment-related promotional, educational and community involvement projects. We will continue to provide the necessary assistance and facilitate the implementation of these community projects.

End/Wednesday, December 18, 2002

NNNN