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The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, today (October 9) attended a trade engagement seminar on construction waste management held by the Hong Kong Green Building Council. He was joined by about 100 members of the construction and recycling industries to discuss how to strengthen the management of construction waste in a spirit of shared eco-responsibility.
Speaking at the seminar, Mr Wong said that the Government has always attached importance to the handling of construction waste, which accounts for nearly one quarter of the daily municipal solid waste disposed of at landfills, and is committed to promoting avoidance and reduction of construction waste among different sectors.
Mr Wong said, "The Government implemented the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme as early as 2006 in order to put the polluter-pays principle to work, as well as to provide economic incentives for the adoption of construction methods that could promote reduction, reuse and recycling of construction waste in the industry. Although the charging scheme has been remarkably effective in reducing construction waste, we have to review the scheme in a timely manner in order to tie in with the Government's efforts under the 'Hong Kong: Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources'. I am glad to learn from today's seminar that the principle of 'use less, waste less' has been generally recognised by the construction industry as the direction for its future development."
The amount of construction waste disposed of at landfills, which was about 6 600 tonnes per day before the implementation of the charging scheme, has been reduced by more than half since the scheme's implementation. However, Mr Wong noted that the amount of construction waste has been increasing in recent years and the majority view of the participants at the seminar was that it is untenable for the charging level to remain unchanged after these many years. Moreover, large amounts of reusable public fill are produced during different types of construction work, requiring proper management measures to promote effective beneficial use of these materials.
"The current cost of handling construction waste at the landfills has already increased to over $200 per tonne, which exceeds the existing charging level of $125 per tonne and no longer reflects the principle of polluter-pays, while the cost of handling public fill has also far exceeded the current charging level of $27 per tonne. We are therefore actively considering fees adjustment and have been studying its potential impact on fly-tipping of construction waste. We will also further explore appropriate complementary measures that could provide necessary technical support to facilitate the reduction and recycling of construction waste. We will then discuss with relevant sectors the implementation details and the requisite supporting measures, and report to the Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs on the way forward as soon as possible," said Mr Wong.
He added that the Civil Engineering and Development Department will launch a pilot scheme in October or November to explore by phases the feasibility and other operational issues of using global positioning system (GPS) technology to help law enforcement, while the Construction Industry Council is now carrying out studies on issues related to the reduction, reuse and recycling of construction waste and will later submit a proposal to the Government.
Noting that much construction waste originates from household renovation projects, Mr Wong said that responsibility for reducing construction waste is not confined to the construction industry. He called on the public to join collaborative efforts to reduce construction waste by adopting the green practice of "use less, waste less" and to support the style of environmentally responsible and simplicity design, which conserves resources and reduces the disposal of construction waste, thereby easing the landfill burden.
Ends/Friday, October 9, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:34
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