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Following is a question by the Hon Li Fung-ying and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for the Environment, Dr Kitty Poon, in the Legislative Council today (November 25):
Question:
It has been reported that fly-tipping of construction waste in Hong Kong is increasingly serious, and even urban roads have for a long time been used as locations for fly-tipping. Yet, some members of the public have complained to the Government about such a situation for quite a while but their complaints have still not been followed up. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the number of complaint cases (broken down by District Council districts) received by the authorities about fly-tipping of construction waste and the number of prosecutions instituted in each of the past three years?
Reply:
President,
Since the implementation of the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme in January 2006, the number of complaints against fly-tipping of construction waste (fly-tipping) has been on the rise in recent years. In view of this, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and other government departments concerned have enhanced co-ordination and co-operation to combat fly-tipping. The relevant departments have set up a co-ordination mechanism and meet on a regular and as-needed basis to monitor the overall situation. For cases of public concern, they also conduct joint site inspections and enforcement actions as necessary. Preventive measures, such as putting up railings, warning signs and road barriers, are taken at identified fly-tipping blackspots and other locations with serious fly-tipping problems. To step up publicity and education, guides on preventing fly-tipping have been drawn up and distributed to members of related trades including the construction industry, construction transporters and property management companies. The government departments concerned also have jointly compiled a list of fly-tipping blackspots and stepped up patrol at these blackspots.
Apart from the above measures, the EPD is installing closed circuit television surveillance systems at two fly-tipping black-spots in Sha Tin and Tuen Mun as pilot sites to monitor and combat fly-tipping. This 12-month pilot scheme will commence in end-2009. The EPD will review the effectiveness and feasibility of the scheme before considering whether to extend the use of the surveillance system.
Despite the significant increase in the number of complaints against fly-tipping of construction waste in recent years, we note that most of the complaints involve small-scale fly-tipping such as the dumping of construction waste at the roadside. Overall speaking, the annual quantity of dumped construction waste removed by the government accounts for less than 0.1% of the total quantity of construction waste disposed of at government disposal facilities for the same period. The regional distribution of construction waste fly-tipping complaint cases handled by government departments for the past three years is in Table (1).
The number of prosecutions taken against fly-tipping of construction waste is in Table (2).
Ends/Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:35
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