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Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (March 1):
Question:
Some residents of Hoi Lai Estate in Lai Chi Kok complained to me about the frequent emission of stenches from the nearby West Kowloon Refuse Transfer Station (WKTS). Despite some photos provided by a staff member of the WKTS operator showing the deplorable environment inside WKTS, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has claimed that it is an isolated case only. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints about environmental nuisances caused by refuse transfer stations (RTSs) received by EPD in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by the subject matter of the complaints; the number of complaints about which investigation was completed each year in the same period, and the respective numbers of them which were found substantiated or otherwise, as well as the justifications for finding the complaints unsubstantiated;
(b) whether EPD has issued to RTS operators guidelines on how to prevent causing environmental nuisances, and of the mechanism in place to ensure RTS operators' compliance with these guidelines; and
(c) of the standards adopted by EPD for determining the acceptable levels of environmental nuisances caused by RTSs; whether it has assessed if there is substantial discrepancy between such acceptable levels and the levels deemed acceptable by the residents, and whether these standards will be reviewed?
Reply:
Madam President,
During the past 3 years, EPD has received 12 complaints concerning suspected environmental nuisance caused by the West Kowloon Refuse Transfer Station (WKTS). A summary is tabled below:
Year No of Content Substantiated or not
Cases
**** ***** ******* ********************
2003 1 Odour Unsubstantiated
nuisance
2004 3 Odour 2 cases substantiated;
nuisance 1 case unsubstantiated
2005 8 7 cases: Unsubstantiated
Odour
nuisance
1 case: Unsubstantiated
environmental
hygiene problem
inside the
refuse transfer
station
2006 0 Not applicable Not applicable
(until
22 February)
Investigations of all the above cases had been completed. The two substantiated cases occurred in June and July 2004 respectively and the affected premises were factories located within 300 metres from the WKTS. After the investigations, EPD had immediately urged the contractor to enhance the management of the transfer station operation, particularly the cleansing work and the operation of the air cleaning system to ensure that the people working or living in the vicinity of the transfer station would not be affected.
For the other 10 complaint cases that were unsubstantiated, they included 2 odour nuisance cases lodged to EPD by a nearby factory in August 2003 and by a resident of Mei Foo Sun Chuen in May 2004, 7 cases concerning odour scented inside Hoi Lai Estate lodged to EPD by residents of the estate directly or through Councilors' Offices during the period from July to December 2005, and one case concerning environmental hygiene problem inside the station reported by a member of the public via a Councilor's Office in November 2005. With regard to the odour nuisance complaints from the Hoi Lai Estate residents, the WKTS was one of the sources that was suspected to be producing the odour. During EPD's investigations, no odour nuisance was found at the locations reported by the complainants as well as at the periphery of the WKTS. Moreover, the operation and hygiene conditions of the WKTS were found to comply with the statutory requirements. Therefore, the relevant complaints were not substantiated. Nevertheless, EPD had urged the contractor to enhance the management of the transfer station operation to ensure that good hygiene conditions inside the station would be maintained and no odour nuisance would occur at the periphery of the station.
Refuse transfer station is a refuse processing facility. Within the transfer station area, odour or refuse accumulation inside the tipping hall was part of the normal operation of the station. One of the important roles in EPD's management and control of the refuse transfer station operation is to ensure that the operation inside the station will not cause any environmental nuisance outside the station. The tipping hall of the WKTS is of enclosed type design. The air cleaning system of the hall operates continuously. It extracts air from the outside atmosphere and the exhaust air is cleaned and de-odorized before discharge at a designated position, so that the refuse dumping operation inside the hall will not affect the environment in the surrounding areas. Before a refuse collection vehicle leaves the transfer station, the vehicle will be cleaned by an automatic vehicle cleaning system to ensure that the vehicle will not pollute the surrounding areas.
There are clear and stringent requirements about the operation and environmental performance of the transfer station in the refuse transfer station contract. The contractor of the transfer station shall fully comply with the relevant requirements. EPD staff will closely monitor the operation and environmental performance of the transfer station. EPD has established a system to enhance the control of the contractor's performance: when the contractor fails to comply with the relevant requirements, the contractor's operation fee will be deducted. Moreover, the contract requires the contractor to employ an independent consultant to carry out environmental compliance audit annually to ensure that the refuse transfer station operation is in line with the environmental quality target of the government.
Apart from controlling the contractor of the refuse transfer station by applying the above contract provisions, the operation of the refuse transfer station is also subject to the control of relevant pollution control ordinances.
Staff of Environmental Compliance Division of EPD (abbreviated as "EPD enforcement staff" below) carry out independent investigations of complaints about environmental pollution of refuse transfer stations. Based on the information provided by the complainants, EPD enforcement staff will carry out investigations at the locations affected, including residential premises, workplaces or public place, at the time when the pollution would most likely occur. EPD enforcement staff will record the environmental conditions, conduct observations repeatedly outside the refuse transfer station, and look for incidents of any abnormal operation or problems with the pollution control measures inside the refuse transfer station. They will also scrutinize the reports of the independent assessment team of the station. The above actions are taken to verify if the transfer station had caused any pollution. If the above investigations find that the refuse transfer station is causing pollution, EPD will take legal actions in addition to invoking the contract provisions. With regard to the standards of environmental pollution, EPD has adopted the standards specified in the relevant environmental protection ordinances. The standards have thoroughly considered whether the public will be unreasonably affected by the operation of refuse transfer station. There is no difference between the acceptance level of the public and the standards adopted.
Ends/Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:09
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