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

Incinerators better than landfills
I refer to the letter from Tracy Lai ('Incinerator is a major polluter', March 11).
I assume that the Hong Kong government would only consider the latest technology  with flue gas filters for any such facility.
When comparing what we do now (landfills) versus waste incineration it might be wise to choose the lesser of two evils.
In landfills all toxins  can escape, uncontrolled, into the water and the atmosphere.  Considerable amounts of the greenhouse gas methane (much worse than carbon dioxide) are produced and escape into the atmosphere.  Again, the process is uncontrolled.
There are different kinds of incinerators. However, what  they all have in common is that the waste is reduced to around 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the original volume. They produce bottom ash, fly ash and combustion gases, similar  to a coal-fired power plant.
Dangerous dioxins and furans are broken down to non-hazardous substances in the high temperature combustion chamber of the incinerator.
Bottom ash can be disposed off in landfills.
Fly ash and gases pass through sophisticated flue gas purifiers, which remove  heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid and fine particulate.   As in any combustion, carbon dioxide is produced.
The hot gases that  leave the combustion chamber are used to produce steam to drive turbines and generators to produce electricity. Incinerators produce up to 50 per cent  less  greenhouse gases  than landfills (a better carbon footprint). Also, incinerators produce a considerable amount of electricity, which will reduce coal and gas burning in power stations.
Incinerators reduce solid waste going to landfills by 90 to 95 per cent. The hazardous waste (heavy metals, etc) can be disposed of properly.
Landfills are ticking time bombs. The stench is a nuisance, not to mention a potential health hazard.
Peter A Thuler, Sai Kung
Get rid of crass light shows
The article by Charmaine Carvalho ('Frazzle dazzle', March 17), illuminates the problem of light pollution that is increasingly plaguing our city.
The title of Rosemary Sayer's biography of tycoon Gordon Wu Ying-sheung is The Man Who Turned the Lights On. Many Wan Chai residents now wish that he would turn them off. His group's buildings in Queen's Road East, the Hopewell Centre and QRE Plaza, nightly emit flashing multicoloured displays that turn apartments into discos.
After a day's work I wish to relax without having my senses constantly bombarded. Hong Kong's noise and air pollution is bad enough without such crass light shows invading residential neighbourhoods.
Why  is Hong Kong wasting so much energy on these displays? The  power companies are the major polluters of Hong Kong's air, and our planet's fuel resources are finite. Reducing power consumption should be the prime target of a responsible and alert government.
The business sector cannot be relied upon to lead in controlling power consumption.
Y. K. Ho, Wan Chai
Wet market is worth saving
There is a lot of talk  about the impending destruction of the  Graham and Peel streets wet market.
It would be a shame to lose a quintessential piece of Hong Kong life. Being a foodie, I gain inspiration from these markets. Where else am I going to source betel leaves and lotus roots?
With the current trend of globalisation, we are quickly losing the relationships with the people from whom we buy our food. The supermarket checkout hardly compares with the bustling adventure that my journeys to the markets entail.  I'm sure to some, the wet markets may be considered  unhygienic, but if the alternative is excessive packaging and the loss of contact with my suppliers, I favour their survival.
I fear that without the easy option of popping down to the local wet markets, once we take away our intention to fill our fridges with healthy fruit and veg, the trend to opt for highly processed convenience food may enter more easily into our psyche.
Any foodie in Hong Kong should get involved in the preservation of these markets and support the alternative plan for the area submitted by the World City Committee and currently under review by the Town Planning Board (the public consultation deadline is Tuesday) and should visit www.savestreetmarkets.com for further information.
We have a voice; let's use it to save our vegetables.
Taryne Hall, director, chef, Relish Kitchen
'Locals' still get raw deal
Recent articles I have read on the Race Discrimination Bill - and the UN's stated unhappiness with it - fail to mention an important failing of the proposed bill in its amended form.
Many Hong Kong Chinese themselves are discriminated against by employers in Hong Kong where similarly qualified staff doing the same job are paid vastly differing amounts through the use of 'local' or 'expatriate' terms of employment. Rather than using expatriate terms to recruit individual talent, many businesses use blanket policies to pay locals much less than the job is worth to the company.
The remuneration is determined not by supply and demand for the skills of the individual, but by whether they are indeed decreed to be a local or an expatriate by the human resources department. This results in some employers withdrawing job offers to suitable Hong Kong applicants who refuse to accept the much lower local terms.
The irony is that many of those business interests that have successfully lobbied to be allowed to maintain these discriminatory pay policies are from countries where such discrimination is against the law.
The shadow of the colonial pecking order still hangs over Hong Kong, and it is hard to stop discrimination against the minority while still allowing it against the majority.
Aaron Lee, Kowloon Bay
Figure of speech
I refer to John Ford's letter on the government's zero-accident campaign message ('Backing slogan', March 15) and his dismissive response to Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee's campaign slogan during the December Legco by-election: 'I'll do better than my best.'
Hyperboles are a common figure of speech, not to be taken literally.
In everyday life, we say someone is 'whiter than white', or 'cleaner than clean', for the purpose of emphasis.
Simon Chan, Mid-Levels
Ip's inspiration
John Ford ('Backing slogan', March 15) must have missed the reporting by the local press when Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee unveiled her campaign slogan for the Legco by-election.
It is a line from I Have Confidence,  from the legendary musical The Sound of Music.
If you read  some of the lyrics,  you will find that they echo  Mrs Ip's campaign theme very nicely:
I must dream of the things I am seeking, I am seeking the courage I lack. The courage to serve them with reliance, Face my mistakes without defiance. Show them I'm worthy. And while I show them, I'll show me. So let them bring on all their problems, I'll do better than my best.
Ken Lo, Kwai Chung



Letters