Getting to bottom of waste pile
Government wants to know why figures show more imported waste is brought in than re-exported but denies excess is going to landfills
Environment undersecretary Christine Loh Kung-wai acknowledged yesterday that the government did not have accurate figures on waste management but denied that imported waste was being sent to local landfills.
She was speaking after statistics showing that more plastic waste was imported than re-exported prompted allegations from recycling companies that some imported waste was ending up in the city's landfills.
Nine Sai Kung district councillors, meanwhile, complained to the Ombudsman about the lack of information on how imported waste was being handled.
Speaking on a radio programme, Loh said the Environment Bureau had commissioned a study of possible discrepancies between government figures and the actual figures. The result should be ready by the end of the year. Asked whether the bureau had based its recently released waste-management blueprint on incorrect data, she said that "all figures we hold today can be accounted for, but we just want to see if there's any discrepancy and how big it is".
All figures we hold today can be accounted for, but we just want to see if there's any discrepancy and how big it is
Hong Kong imports plastic waste from the United States, Japan and Britain and re-exports it to the mainland and other countries in Asia.
According to government figures, imports in recent years have ranged from 3.2 million to 4.8 million tonnes a year while from 2008 to 2011, the yearly exports were lower by 311,000 to 576,000 tonnes. Last year, the import and export figures were similar at 3.2 million tonnes. Loh denied that large amounts of imported plastic waste was sent to the landfills, attributing the differences to a possible time lapse between imports and exports.