Concern groups say the need to build an incinerator may be eliminated if the government makes a greater effort at reducing and recycling waste.
Several environmental experts, green activists, resident committee members and those in trade associations yesterday met the panel of environmental affairs to air their views on the three-pronged “Reduce, Recycle and Proper Waste Management” plan.
It emphasizes the reduction of waste at source, the timely extension of landfills and incineration.
But activists say there is no need for the incinerator if the government gets citizens to reduce and recycle waste.
“We can do without an incinerator and relying on only landfills,” Friends of the Earth deputy environmental affairs manager Michelle Au Wing- tsz said yesterday.
“Taiwan and South Korea have shown that reducing waste at its source is more sustainable in the long-term than the expensive and environmentally damaging route of incineration.”
In 2010, about 52 percent of municipal solid waste was recycled and the rest went into landfills. But the waste recovery rate is much higher in Seoul and Taipei, standing at 68 percent and 58 percent respectively.
According to Designing Hong Kong head Paul Zimmerman, an alternative would be a system that encourages waste recycling.
“One example would be a producer-pays policy, enacted in many countries, where a customer returns the plastic or glass packaging of certain products to a recycling center and receives a nominal payment,” Zimmerman said.
The government is seeking nearly HK$15 billion to fund construction of a giant incinerator on 16 hectares of reclaimed land at Shek Kwu Chau, an island south of Lantau.
This would open up an alternative waste disposal channel, complementing the use of landfills that handle about 13,800 tonnes of waste daily.
The territory’s last incinerator was shut down in 1997 amid pollution concerns.
Environment Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah said the reduction and recycling of waste is the priority of his department, but this method alone is insufficient.
“We need a three-pronged approach that includes incineration,” he said. “No country can solve its waste problems through just recovery.”
