Taskforce on construction waste

Landfill space is being wasted by tonnes of daily construction refuse which needs to be sorted and recycled, the Waste Reduction Committee said yesterday.

At its inaugural meeting, the problem was ruled to be serious and a taskforce to tackle it will be set up.

Committee chairman Barrie Cook said that, of the 30,000 tonnes of daily construction waste, some 7,000 to 8,000 tonnes was being dumped into landfills. Much of the remainder was going to public dumps.

'This is a big volume and it will not be reduced in the years to come as developments continue,' he said.

'So we will be focusing on this construction waste, which is quite a serious problem. Here, we have three strategic landfills costing several billion to build, but it is a waste of resources having construction waste getting into them - this material needs to be sorted.' The taskforce would work with the construction industry and government departments to study the issue.

Mr Cook said Hong Kong might have to change its unorthodox construction methods, saying Western countries often re-used such waste.