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The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, will leave for Europe after midnight tomorrow (March 2) to learn about the waste management strategies in European countries. It is hoped the trip will be beneficial for formulating waste management policies in Hong Kong.
Mr Wong will visit the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, where he will exchange views with local officials and environmental experts on various waste management issues covering waste reduction and recycling, social mobilisation and waste infrastructure.
The itinerary will also include visits to thermal waste treatment facilities in the countries, and briefings on these facilities including technology and operation, waste-to-energy effectiveness and challenges in developing modern waste infrastructure.
Mr Wong's programme begins in the United Kingdom on March 3 and 4, when he will meet local officials from the Mayor of London's Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as well as experts from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and representatives from a non-governmental organisation on waste management issues. He will also receive a briefing on the Teesside Gasification Plant, which is under construction and scheduled for commissioning within this year.
On March 5, Mr Wong will meet the Vice Mayor of Amsterdam, Ms Carolien Gehrels, the Secretary General for Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Mr Siebe Riedstra, and local environmental experts.
During the visit to Copenhagen, Denmark on March 6, Mr Wong will call on the Technical and Environmental Mayor of Copenhagen, Mr Morten Kabell, and the Minister of the Environment of Denmark, Mrs Kirsten Brosbøl, and will meet relevant officials.
In the morning of March 7, Mr Wong will proceed to his final stop at Malmö, Sweden, where he will call on the Mayor of Malmö, Ms Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh. He will also be briefed by the city government on the overall waste management strategy in Malmö.
Mr Wong will depart for Hong Kong in the afternoon of March 7 (Copenhagen time).
Ends/Saturday, March 1, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:00
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