Bigger landfills essential for now
Hong Kong's waste disposal is not a political issue. There are environmental aspects and concerns for residents living near landfills, but reform to bring about greater democracy is not among them.
Hong Kong's waste disposal is not a political issue. There are environmental aspects and concerns for residents living near landfills, but reform to bring about greater democracy is not among them. Yet pan-democrat lawmakers for weeks held up funding for extending the dump at Tseung Kwan O using politics as the main excuse, threatening a garbage crisis. Now that their filibustering has ended and approval has been given, our city can push forward with a management strategy that, given the challenges faced, must not again be so senselessly stalled.
Two more landfill extensions have still to be approved and building an incinerator is a necessity. Implementing a blueprint unveiled last year for sustainable use of resources to 2022 is a critical element of averting the garbage crisis. Hong Kong produces more than 9,000 tonnes of residual municipal solid waste each day and without action, our three tips will reach capacity one by one by 2019. The vote last Friday will allow work to begin immediately on extending the life of one of those dumps and approval has to be given for funding for the others so that further elements can be smoothly integrated.
Despite the urgency, pan-democrat legislators have yet to give that assurance. They had been holding up the Tseung Kwan O plan by repeatedly asking questions and preparing hundreds of amendments as part of a non-cooperation campaign to protest against Beijing's restrictions for the 2017 chief executive election. They also contended that the government had failed to come up with a comprehensive waste strategy that included recycling and sorting. Their tactics ignored the critical fact that time needs to be bought through landfill extensions so that essential infrastructure can be built.
Unlike other major cities, Hong Kong does not charge for household waste, it lacks an incinerator and recycling is in its infancy. Putting these in place will take time and bigger landfills are for now, essential. Stalling their expansion will only worsen our city's plight.