bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Hongkongers should expect to be charged for waste disposal as a way of encouraging recycling, the environment minister warned yesterday.
Edward Yau Tang-wah said the 49 per cent recycling rate needed to be significantly lifted because landfill sites were filling up quickly.
His comments came a day after the government said it would scrap a highly unpopular plan to expand the Tseung Kwan O landfill into Clear Water Bay Country Park. The Environment Bureau is aiming for a 55 per cent recycling rate by 2015.
But Yau said the city needed to go beyond that level. 'If we want to go further, we need to start discussing a waste charge based on volume. 
'This might be controversial but overseas experiences show it will be difficult to reduce waste without proper economic means.'
On Tuesday Yau outlined a revised strategy to deal with the mounting waste, reducing it by recycling and other treatments such as incineration. He said the three existing landfills would all be full at different stages by 2018. 
But Yau admitted a waste  disposal charge alone would not be sufficient to address the waste problems facing the city.
'There is currently a waste charge in Taipei but it doesn't mean they won't have incinerators or landfills.'
Despite calls by residents for the Tseung Kwan O landfill to close, Yau said landfills would always be needed in any city, no matter how much waste was reduced and treated.
Even if a proposed incinerator with a waste handling capacity of 3,000 tonnes daily was built, there would still be about 4,500 tonnes of waste requiring further disposal. 
This figure excludes another 2,000 tonnes of sludge from sewage  treatment, which will be incinerated at another new facility which is currently under construction. 
'In this case, we have to build either one more incinerator or we put them in the landfill,' Yau said. 'But exactly how we should handle this will be up to the public to choose.'
Yau said that in future most wet waste such as sludge and kitchen waste would be diverted to treatment  facilities instead of being dumped in landfills. 
Sites deemed suitable for a waste incinerator, designed to burn 3,000 tonnes of waste a day, will be made public in March. Officials have not ruled out the possibility that incinerators might be built on both of the two short-listed sites - Tsang Tsui in Tuen Mun and Shek Kwu Chau.



Public should prepare for waste disposal charge, minister warns