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Following are the opening remarks by the Acting Secretary for the Environment, Ms Christine Loh, at today's (July 7) press conference on the proposed regulation of edible fats and oils and recycling of "waste cooking oils":
As far as waste cooking oil is concerned, I think Hong Kong people support the recycling of "waste cooking oils", but not for human consumption. So the purpose of our regulatory system is to ensure the "waste cooking oils" do not go back into the food chain. So how do we do this? First of all, we would set up a licensing system to be regulated by the Environmental Protection Department. And the people who have to get the licence really include exporters, importers, collectors, as well as recyclers in Hong Kong. And the other thing that the regulation requires is that all these parties must keep very detailed records of their various transactions, so that if there are problems then it would be relatively easy to trace back what these transactions are, and of course, if their "waste cooking oils" are being exported from Hong Kong, that there is also a system that they need to get a permit for. We hope that by this quite comprehensive regulatory system that we would prevent "waste cooking oils" going back to the food chain.
Ends/Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:41
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