appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

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

json

Karen Zhang

Trees felled by Typhoon Mangkhut and stored on the site of Hong Kong’s former airport at Kai Tak will soon have to be moved as the land has been earmarked for development.
The city’s Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said a new arrangement for the debris would be announced next week.
According to the Lands Department, two of four sites lent to the Civil Engineering and Development Department for temporary storage of the trees have already been returned in line with a deadline of October 30. However, the loan of the remaining two was extended for another month.
“The four sites are proposed land sales sites scheduled for disposal in the second half of the 2018/19 financial year,” a spokeswoman for the Lands Department said.
The spaces have been marked for new housing.

Environment officials said the area must be cleared soon to reduce the risk of fires and pest problems.
But the EPD did not say where the trees would go, citing its announcement to be made next week.


The old airport runways have been covered with 7,400 truckloads of tree waste since Typhoon Mangkhut hit on September 16. The sites have been receiving about 100 truckloads a day.
Some 13,400 tonnes have been sent to the West New Territories Landfill by lorry or barge since September 28.
7,000 tonnes of trees felled by Typhoon Mangkhut have ended up in Hong Kong landfill, government admits
Jan Thomsen, a wood recycler and biomass trader, said he felt frustrated at hearing such a large amount of tree waste had ended up in the ground.
He has been lobbying environment officials since early October to get the tree trunks in a chipper at Kai Tak and ship the waste to power plants in partnerships with biomass trading companies.

“This tree waste can be turned into biomass to provide energy,” Thomsen said.
“It’s such a waste sending it to landfill.”
Rotting trees would release methane about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, which would contribute to global warming, he added.
No more than eight weeks would be required to ship the necessary equipment to Hong Kong to shred 14 tonnes of branches per hour, 18 to 20 hours per day.
Hong Kong’s trees are at risk – more from people who don’t want them in urban areas than from typhoons
But Thomsen’s proposal did not get a reply from the EPD for almost three weeks. He eventually received an email last Sunday morning, one day after the Post published a story on the idea.
Dr Keith Lai Chun-kit, acting senior environment protection officer, said Thomsen was welcome to take away by his own means as much tree waste as he wanted, free of charge. But Lai turned down the proposal to bring in a wood chipper because the Kai Tak site needed to be cleared as soon as practicable.

The department said it would make necessary arrangements to facilitate Thomsen collecting tree waste. But Lai later told the Post the EPD would not cover transport or labour costs as Thomsen’s proposal involved a profit motive.
Thomsen replied: “Your suggestion to drive the tree waste to a plot where we can chip it and then drive it back to the harbour for export is a waste of energy. If the wood can be chipped on site and then exported by ship from Kai Tak, that is the most economical and environmentally efficient way.”


Thomsen suggested he could use more powerful chipping equipment to speed up the process.
But his proposal was rejected again on October 29 with the same reasons.
Typhoon Mangkhut tree debris shouldn’t be sent to Hong Kong’s already overflowing landfills
“If they had replied to me earlier, I could have provided more solutions to fix these problems,” Thomsen said.
“The EPD should have worked with business professionals to deal with the tree waste.”
The department said it would not rule out exploring the possibility of using the waste as alternative fuel. Some would be used as compost at the government’s Animal Waste Composting Plant, and as a bulking agent in recycling at its Organic Resources Recovery Centre Phase 1. But the EPD did not specify the amounts involved.
The public have also been doing their bit to deal with the trees. Some 85 Hongkongers have taken 435 pieces of wood, and 261 pieces have been transferred to government Community Green Stations to be used again.


When a typhoon hits Hong Kong

Central under water in 80 years? Hong Kong’s coming climate crisis 

Extreme weather scorecard: Hong Kong, Macau vulnerable in Greater Bay Area as Guangzhou, Shenzhen gird for once-in-200 year storms

Sweltering heat in Hong Kong, extreme weather events worldwide signal need to act on climate change, scientists say

Typhoon Mangkhut

Thousands of truckloads of Typhoon Mangkhut tree waste to be evicted from old Hong Kong airport site, but where can it go?

The fallen trees piled up at Kai Tak in East Kowloon. Photo: Roy Issa

Interview with Jan Thomsen who talks about wood recycling in Kowloon Bay. 30OCT18 SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

Aerial view of fallen and broken trees from Typhoon Mangkut collected and piled together in Kai Tak. The number of reports of fallen trees has topped 46,000. 29SEP18 SCMP / Roy Issa

Image of trees from Typhoon Mangkut collected and piled together in Kai Tak being transferred on board a ship. 18OCT18 SCMP / Roy Issa

Protect coastal areas from stronger storms as world warms, experts urge Hong Kong

Strong waves hit Heng Fa Chuen on Hong Kong Island during Typhoon Mangkhut in September. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong Observatory director Shun Chi-ming attends a radio programme at Commercial Radio in Kowloon Tong 21APR18 SCMP / Edward Wong

Interview with Under Secretary for the Environment, Christine Loh Kung-wai at Central Government Offices in Admiralty. 10MAY17 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Land used as storage is earmarked for development
Recycler urges officials to break down the trees in a wood chipper and turn them into biomass fuel


Trees felled by Typhoon Mangkhut and stored on the site of Hong Kong’s former airport at Kai Tak will soon have to be moved as the land is earmarked for development.


Hong Kong environmental issues

Thousands of truckloads of Typhoon Mangkhut tree waste to be evicted from old Hong Kong airport site, but where can it go?

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Land used as storage is earmarked for development Recycler urges officials to break down the trees in a wood chipper and turn them into biomass fuel

Land used as storage is earmarked for development

Recycler urges officials to break down the trees in a wood chipper and turn them into biomass fuel