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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting this Wednesday (July 10) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on promoting the waste recycling industry to create employment opportunities.
The motion, to be moved by Mr Kwok Wai-keung, states: "That, the Government published the 'Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste (2005-2014)' in 2005, formulating the strategies and measures for reducing waste production and promoting waste recovery, reuse and recycling; at present, the waste recovery rate in Hong Kong is about 48 per cent, but when compared with the neighbouring regions such as South Korea, the recovery rate of which is 60 per cent, the effectiveness of waste management in Hong Kong obviously lags behind other advanced countries; in May 2013, the Government published the 'Hong Kong: Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources 2013-2022', setting clear targets and timetables for waste recovery and reduction, but the relevant measures are 'old wine in a new bottle' lacking concrete plans for promoting the development of the waste recycling industry in Hong Kong; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously put in place effective policies on waste recovery and recycling to drive the development of Hong Kong's waste recycling industry and create more employment opportunities; the relevant measures should include:
(1) by making reference to the experiences of places such as Taiwan and South Korea, to formulate more effective waste management strategies and measures;
(2) to expeditiously implement mandatory food waste recovery, provide land and related support, and train talents for processing recovered food waste, so that the food waste, which represents 40 per cent of the wasteload in landfills, can be properly recovered and recycled;
(3) to encourage the industrial and commercial sectors (e.g. supermarkets) to donate foods that are still eatable, so as to reduce food waste;
(4) to gradually implement a mandatory garbage separation programme, make good use of community spaces to set up waste collection points, and perfect the community waste recovery networks, so as to facilitate the conduct of the first-round waste recovery separation at the community level;
(5) to provide waste recovery operators with land and berthing facilities with suitable lease periods, so as to promote the development of the waste recovery industry; to ensure the proper handling of recovered waste, the Government should proactively study the feasibility of establishing a licensing system for waste recovery operators in the long run;
(6) to expeditiously put in place the producer responsibility scheme for stepping up the recovery of waste with low recycling values, such as glass bottles as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment;
(7) to provide tax and land concessions, etc. to attract waste recycling enterprises to develop business in Hong Kong;
(8) to allocate additional resources to support technological research projects on green products, so as to create diversified green products and develop a global market for green products;
(9) to encourage various government departments to comprehensively implement a green procurement policy, and extend the relevant policy to the industrial and commercial sectors, so as to provide a stable demand for local green products; and
(10) to allocate funding to establish a 'waste resources recovery and recycling fund' for supporting the sustainable development of the waste recycling industry, and to transfer the levies related to environmental protection policies (e.g. levies from schemes on municipal solid waste charging and producer responsibility, etc.) to the fund for its sustainable operation."
Dr Lo Wai-kwok, Dr Kenneth Chan, Mr Gary Fan, Ms Cyd Ho and Mr Wu Chi-wai will move separate amendments to Mr Kwok Wai-keung's motion; while Mr Lee Cheuk-yan will move an amendment to Ms Cyd Ho's amendment.
Mr Andrew Leung will move a motion on the impact of the United States' ending the quantitative easing measures. The motion states: "That, as the Federal Reserve Board of the United States will gradually end the quantitative easing measures, this Council urges the HKSAR Government to closely keep in view the impacts of the incident on the global economic and financial environment, ensure the stability and robustness of Hong Kong's financial system, maintain sustainable economic growth, and when necessary, introduce appropriate measures to assist members of the public and small and medium enterprises in facing a new market order."
Mr Christopher Cheung, Mr Ng Leung-sing and Ir Dr Lo Wai-kwok will move separate amendments to Mr Andrew Leung's motion.
Mr Andrew Leung will also move a motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure. The motion, states: "That this Council takes note of Report No. 20/12-13 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council on July 10, 2013 in relation to the subsidiary legislation and instrument as listed below: Tate's Cairn Tunnel Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Notice 2013."
The Secretary for Food and Health will move proposed resolution under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance to seek the Council's approval to endorse the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulation 2013 and the Poisons List (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulation 2013, made by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board on June 17, 2013.
On bills, Members will also resume Second Reading debates on the Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Inland Revenue and Stamp Duty Legislation (Alternative Bond Schemes) (Amendment) Bill 2012, the Supplementary Appropriation (2012-2013) Bill and the Air Pollution Control (Amendment) Bill 2013. If the Bills are supported by Members and receive their Second Readings, they will then go through the Committee stages and be read the Third time.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Bill 2013 will be introduced into the Council for First and Second Reading. Debate on the Bill will be adjourned.
Moreover, Mr Albert Ho will present the Independent Commission Against Corruption Complaints Committee Annual Report 2012 at the meeting and address the Council. Mr Tommy Cheung will also present the Report of the Finance Committee on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2013-2014 and address the Council.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Panel on Security, Mr Ip Kwok-him; Chairman of the Panel on Home Affairs, Mr Ma Fung-kwok; Chairman of the Panel on Economic Development, Mr Jeffrey Lam; Chairman of the Panel on Health Services, Dr Leung Ka-lau; Chairman of the Panel on Constitutional Affairs, Mr Tam Yiu-chung, and Chairman of the Panel on Financial Affairs, Ms Starry Lee, will present the 2012-2013 Reports of the related Panels and address the Council respectively.
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Administration 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found in the LegCo website.
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. They may reserve seats by calling 3919 3399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also watch or listen to the meeting via the web broadcast system on the LegCo website.
Ends/Monday, July 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 21:25
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