The government should consider compensating local districts for accepting polluting facilities that serve the wider society, its environmental advisers say.
Compensation to residents - which is offered in Taiwan - might win local support for having polluting works on their doorstep, they said.
The suggestion was made in the light of opposition to a proposed sludge incinerator in Tuen Mun.
Poon Chi-sun, chairman of the waste subcommittee of the Advisory Council on the Environment, said the idea was worth exploring.
'These facilities are unavoidable yet unwelcome everywhere,' he said. 'Even if they are going to meet the most stringent environmental requirements, residents might still feel bad psychologically. So the idea of compensation is worth looking at.'
Taiwan requires operators of incinerators to return part of the revenue from rubbish fees and electricity sales to local residents in the form of subsidies on utility fees.
