Huge amount of waste soil spread over an area about the size of two football pitches and is around the height of a four-storey building was found in Tin Shui Wai, which nearby residents fear could pose a threat to their safety. Photo: Sam Tsang

Mountains of misery: Tin Shui Wai residents left fearing for safety amid illegally dumped waste

The site, near private housing estate Kingswood Villas, was once a green belt but is now a ‘waste hill’

Published: 12:02am, 12 Mar 2016

A massive mountain of potentially hazardous and unstable waste – about four storeys high and the size of two soccer pitches – was recently illegally dumped in Tin Shui Wai, causing residents to fear for their safety.

A poster reads “Unauthorized developments will be prosecuted”. Photo: Sam Tsang

Many trees have been chopped down in the dumping site of Tin Shui Wai. Photo: Sam Tsang

Cases like these are nothing new in Hong Kong. The practice is rampant, and the city’s lands, planning and environmental protection departments struggle to coordinate and effectively deal with suspected unauthorised development on private land.

These images, by Post photographers Sam Tsang, David Wong, Felix Wong and K. Y. Cheng, also show similar incidents over the years.

Residents in Ho Sheung Heung complained about illegal dumping at Long Valley, Yuen Long, in 2009. Photo: Sam Tsang

Ho Sheung Heung villagers post notices, place fencing and plant crops on land in Ho Sheung Heung to forbid trespassers and further illegal dumping of construction wastes on their farmland. Photo: Sam Tsang

Stacks of waste tyres encircled a private land lot in Shek Tong Village in Yuen Long where some land owners complained about dumping of construction wastes on their land without their consent in 2013. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

In 2011, villagers at Hung Shui Kiu, Yuen Long, were faced with waste near their farmland despite intervention from the planning department. Photo: David Wong

In 2012 another illegal site was found at Wong Chuk Yuen, Lam Tsuen, Shek Kong. Photo: Felix Wong

Construction wastes were seen in Shek Wu Wai in Yuen Long. The villagers accused the government of ignoring the problem as the dumping waste was getting closer and closer to their home in 2010. Photo: David Wong

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