Country park no place for rubbish dump

Hong Kong has limited space in which to dump its rubbish, and within a decade that space will be used up. Innovative alternatives have to be found and mandatory recycling has to top the list. Yet authorities have decided against making any such tough decision and instead opted for the easy option of extending one of the three landfills into the adjacent Clear Water Bay Country Park.

The plan has naturally met with heated opposition. Our country parks are our escape from the concrete jungle in which we live and work. They are also our city's lungs, the greenery within them sucking up carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen. We cannot allow such an important asset to be compromised.

Officials contend that this will not be the case; they say that the 5 hectare extension of the Tseung Kwan O landfill will be temporary and that the site will eventually be restored and returned to the country park. This may be a solution to a pressing problem in the government's eyes, but for a community that well knows the ease with which temporary fixes in Hong Kong can become permanent, this is a proposal that should not be accepted. It would set a bad precedent, cause environmental damage and have a negative impact on a habitat for rare and protected butterflies and birds.

Opponents have a number of weapons to convince the government to change its mind, among them a media campaign, complaining to the Ombudsman and the last resort of legal action. The latter is not something environmental groups meeting today on the matter want to get involved in, nor should authorities contemplate it; the legal costs will come from the public purse and no matter what the ruling, the community will be the loser.

Our rubbish tips are filling fast. Years will pass before a planned incinerator is built. Not all rubbish can be burned, though, and incinerators are not wholly environmentally friendly. Adopting a legally binding recycling policy is the only sustainable way forward. The experience elsewhere is that up to 80 per cent of rubbish can be recycled. This is the most sensible approach to dealing with our waste disposal dilemma.