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A scheme in which construction and demolition waste is dumped across the border could be extended as local storage sites are expected to be filled by next year.
The pilot scheme was launched in July last year under an agreement with the State Oceanic Administration. It allows for the transport of 10 million tonnes of waste from two temporary sites in Hong Kong to a site at Guanghoiwan, Taishan city, 140km west of Hong Kong.
John Chai Sung-veng, director of the Civil Engineering and Development Department, said the Taishan government welcomed the scheme because it needed stockpiles for reclamation projects - although the central government had the final say on approving the scheme.
Discussions had been going on with the local and central governments, he said.
The department said the two temporary storage sites for construction waste, so-called 'fill banks', in Tseung Kwan O and Tuen Mun - with a combined capacity of 18.3 million tonnes - would be full in the first half of next year if no action was taken.
The fill banks had 9.3 million tonnes capacity  remaining in January, according to government data, but the city produces about  8 to 9 million tonnes of construction waste each year.
'More major infrastructure [projects] are about to start in the next few years, therefore the volume of construction waste is expected to grow,' Mr Chai said.
The dwindling number of reclamation projects could no longer accommodate the growing stockpile of construction waste, he said.
The cross-border waste disposal scheme had prolonged the life expectancy of the fill banks by a year, Mr Chai said. But the pilot scheme ends in August. The government is investigating the possibility of continuing the scheme.
If a cross-border dumping scheme were agreed, it would ease pressure on local sites but would lead to a rise in fees for disposing of construction waste.
The operator of the fill banks  charges HK$27 per tonne, a price set before the cross-border scheme was launched.
Yip Sai-chor, head of the Civil Engineering Office, refused to comment on whether the fee would be increased.  'We will review the situation after the pilot scheme finishes this August,' he said.



Cross-border waste dumping scheme could be extended