Lawmakers yesterday accused the environmental affairs minister of lacking commitment on reducing municipal solid waste after auditors found the quantity of waste in 2007 exceeded a government target by 10.4 per cent.
In its latest report, which followed an Audit Commission value-for-money investigation in November, the legislature's Public Accounts Committee also criticised officials for inadequate and lax control over public wet markets.
Tabling the committee's report to the legislature, chairman Philip Wong Yu-hong said Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau Tang-wah could have done more to help bring about a greener Hong Kong.
'The committee expressed deep regret and sadness that the secretary for the environment lacks a sense of urgency and is not proactive enough in tackling the problem of municipal solid waste,' he said.
In 2005, officials set a target of reducing municipal solid waste by 1 per cent each year from 2005 to 2014, based on the 2003 level of 5.83 million tonnes. But the Audit Commission report found that in 2007 alone, a total of 6.25 million tonnes of such waste was generated, exceeding the target quantity of 5.66 million tonnes by 10.4 per cent.
The report also said the committee was seriously dismayed, because in 2007 almost all of the waste was disposed of at landfills, which would reduce their already short lifespans.