Construction waste may cost $4m a day
The construction industry could face a bill of $4 million every day if user-pays charges for waste are introduced and reclamation projects put on hold, it emerged yesterday.
Taxpayers currently fund the disposal of demolition and construction materials at the rate of about $100 per tonne.
User-pays charges should reflect that cost, Deputy Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands Kim Salkeld said at a waste management conference.
About 8,000 tonnes of construction waste are sent to landfills every day. Mr Salkeld said a further 30,000 tonnes was used each day as reclamation material, but could turn into rubbish if projects were put on hold.
'There is still no incentive through the system to reduce material returned to landfill. It is very urgent indeed,' Mr Salkeld said.
He said the 'sensible' charge was about $100 per tonne, which reflected the cost of disposal.
'Hong Kong is unique in not charging for landfill use,' he said.
If reclamation projects were scaled back or placed on hold indefinitely, 'then Hong Kong does have a very, very serious landfill problem', he said.
Barrie Cook, chairman of the Private Sector Committee on the Environment, said construction waste could become a problem of serious magnitude and urged the Chief Executive to expand on the Government's environmental commitments during his Policy Address next month.
'I do hope we're not going to be disappointed,' he said, adding that no charges amounted to a government subsidy of the industry.
Non-intervention should mean that the industry pays for what it produces, he said.
