Landfill Woes

[hkskyline]

Landfill plan spurs cry for alternatives
Audrey Parwani
27 September 2006
South China Morning Post

Country and Marine Parks Board members are pushing for alternatives to the government's plan to extend the Tseung Kwan O landfill, which will eat into five hectares of the Clear Water Bay Country Park.

The board members want the government to work faster to address the issue before the site becomes full in five years.

Board member Nora Tam Fung-yee said: "We are not talking about five hectares. It is the message we are sending to the public. What if it opens the floodgates and some developers propose building there?"

Fellow member Lo Wing-lok was concerned about irreparable damage to the natural landscape.

"It is not something we can take back," said the former legislator.

The Tseung Kwan O site - the city's most used landfill - takes 8,000 tonnes of solid waste a day.

Environmental officials claim the impact on the park will be low, although an impact assessment report will not be available until early next year.

Speaking at a Country and Marine Parks Board meeting yesterday, Environmental Protection Department assistant director Ellen Chan Ying-lung conceded the city lagged far behind countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore in waste recovery.

But Dr Chan added that landfills would be needed in the long term, even when other methods of waste disposal become available. She said that once the existing Tseung Kwan O site was full, waste would have to be dumped at two other landfills in the New Territories, creating pollution through increased traffic flow into the areas.

Dr Chan said the proposed extension to the south of the existing site, which encroaches on a strip of land in the 615-hectare country park, would create a holding capacity of 17 million cubic metres.

Another board member, Betty Ho Siu-fong, criticised the government for treating country parks as reserve sites for landfills, citing a piece of land in the New Territories that was carved out for the purpose about a decade ago.

"If we keep letting them cut into country parks, how do we make the government change their way of thinking?" said Ms Ho, who is also chairwoman of the Conservancy Association.

[hkskyline]

Landfill extension into park wins `painful' approval
Hong Kong Standard
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A government advisory body has made "a very painful decision" to endorse a plan that expands the existing Tseung Kwan O landfill by five hectares into the Clear Water Bay Country Park.

The controversial plan is expected to provide instant relief to the city's imminent waste disposal problem.

Country and Marine Parks Board chairman Chau Kwai-cheong said that while the board gave the green light to the government's proposal, "none of us like to see this happen as we all know this is detrimental to our environment and country park ecology."

The Tseung Kwan O landfill currently takes 8,000 tonnes of solid waste a day and will be full by 2011. However, the government's ultimate solution, which aims to reduce waste and includes an incineration plan, will not be ready until 2014.

The situation leaves Hong Kong's waste with no where to go for at least two years.

But the extra landfill space can extend the life of the Tseung Kwan O site by another six years to 2018.

Chau said the board only conditionally endorsed the plan. However, the government also needs to speed up the incineration policy framework and other waste recycling policies.

Board member Lo Wing-lok was against the decision, saying the plan will give the government more excuses not to push for proper waste solutions.

A government-commissioned consultancy study states the plan would have an impact on some rare and protected butterflies and birds, but the ecological impact would be small.

[kelw]

Why not just transport the waste to a landfill in mainland China where there is more space?

[superchan7]

Burn it and send the heated exhaust into space. Hong Kong will have the WTB if you put an office on top of the smokestack.

[hkskyline]

Extension of dump will add 10 years to its life
26 August 2009
South China Morning Post

The West New Territories landfill near Tuen Mun will operate for another 10 years under an expansion plan that more than doubles its original size at the expense of 200 hectares of open areas.

The expansion will provide an additional 81 million cubic metres of capacity for household, construction and special waste, on top of the existing 61 million cubic metres.

The Environmental Protection Department said the expansion was needed to cope with the five million tonnes of waste dumped at the city's three landfills a year, although it was studying the possibility of building a waste incinerator as a long-term solution. The department was also planning to expand landfills in the southeast and north of the New Territories.

According to the environmental impact assessment on the Tuen Mun expansion released for public comment yesterday, the chosen option would deliver the largest capacity and best waste-to-energy potential.

The study said most of the area was hilly woodland of low ecological value. It included part of an ash lagoon operated by CLP Power.

However, the site was also home to some valuable species, including pitcher plants, which had to be relocated. Some little grebe waterbirds found on the ash lagoon would be relocated to a new three-hectare pond created on other landfill land. Rare species found at the site included the red lacewing butterfly, Eurasian woodcock and emerald dove.

The study said the landfill extension would create odour in west Ha Pak Nai, the Black Point power station and Lung Kwu Sheung Tan as well as at a proposed sludge treatment facility. Mitigation measures such as tree planting would be introduced.

If the project is approved, extension will begin late next year.

[EricIsHim]

Where do we go next after this landfill get filled? Expand it outward again?
We need to start planning for alternative and sustainable ways to treat our waste...

[Longershanks]

Again legislation is needed. The market always finds a way to meet the legal demand imposed on it. A simple suggestion would be that every building of 20 or more residences MUST provide waste streaming for paper, metal, plastic, glass, bio-degradable etc. Unfortunately such an action would upset property developers so close to zero chance of success.

[EricIsHim]

Waste separation reduces the demand on landfill, and encourage recycling, but is it sustainable? Does it stop the landfill being filled up at some point?

[hkskyline]

Delay for landfill hearing as residents raise stink on time
The Standard
Thursday, November 17, 2011



A public hearing on the planned expansion of the Tseung Kwan O landfill has been postponed by two weeks following a protest by residents.

The Town Planning Board postponed the meeting soon after convening it when around 80 residents showed up at the board's North Point offices to demand a month's delay to allow them to pore through around 1,000 pages of documents that they received only less than a week ago.

The meeting is to evaluate the government's proposal to extend the landfill by 13 hectares.

District councillor Christine Fong Kwok-shan said only a few residents were given the papers on top of the limited time.

She accused the board of holding a fake consultation.

Her colleague, Raymond Ho Man- kit, called the hearing a conspiracy.

"How can the opponents absorb the information within a week? The planned extension stinks, and now the board wants to rub it in," said Ho, adding that enough residents as it is are already complaining about the bad smell from the dump and the traffic congestion caused by dump trucks.

Board chairman Thomas Chow Tat- ming hit back at the claims.

He said among the documents are a number of public submissions - most of them identical copies signed under different names. If approved, the board will submit the expansion plan to the Executive Council by April.

After a short meeting the board decided to postpone the hearing to November 30.

A board spokeswoman said this would give time to study the documents.

"Our usual practise is to send stakeholders the relevant information a week before a public hearing," she said.

[hkskyline]

Emotions delay landfill decision
The Standard
Thursday, December 01, 2011

The future of the Tseung Kwan O landfill hangs in the balance, with Town Planning Board members yet to make up their minds about a government move to expand it.

The board met yesterday to discuss the issue but the meeting was postponed when some residents became emotional.

About 40 Tseung Kwan O residents, accompanied by district councillors, protested outside the Town Planning Board's office in North Point yesterday.

They said the expansion will make the area unhygienic and affect the health of residents. They called on the government to have further consultations.

Sai Kung district councillor Raymond Ho Man-kit told the meeting that extending the 13-hectare landfill is unreasonable as local residents have already been suffering for a long time from the existing one.

"The atmosphere at the meeting became quite tense as some residents got very emotional, claiming their health was at risk," he said.

Nearly 400,000 people living in Tseung Kwan O will be affected.

In addition to the foul smell, residents of the area said they were affected by the traffic congestion caused by dumptrucks going to and from the site.

The board had to postpone the meeting after residents complained they had not had sufficient time to pore through almost 1,000 pages of documents which they received less than a week ago.

Residents also accused the board and district councillors of holding a fake consultation.

Ho said that even though the meeting was postponed, residents felt that the time was still not sufficient for them to go through all the documents.

Once the board approves the extension of the landfill, the plan will be submitted to the Executive Council by April next year.

The size of the Tseung Kwan O Area 137 extension was reduced to 13 hectares from the originally proposed 15.6 hectares.

Responding to concerns raised by residents, the government earlier said that the landfill extension will only be used for odorless waste - such as construction material.

[hkskyline]

LCQ9: Waste management strategy
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Government Press Release

Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (February 1):

Question:

At present, Hong Kong mainly relies on landfills to treat its waste. Of the 18 000 tonnes of solid waste generated every day, 13 300 tonnes are disposed of at landfills. According to the progress of the key initiatives in the "Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste (2005-2014)", the Government has made a series of recommendations in respect of waste treatment, reduction and recycling, including the measures of developing an integrated waste management facility (IWMF) with a daily treatment capacity (including sorting and incinerating) of 3 000 tonnes of waste, raising the target of waste recovery rate from the present 49% to 55% by 2015, developing two organic waste treatment facilities (OWTFs) with daily treatment capacity of 200 and 300 tonnes respectively at Siu Ho Wan on North Lantau and Sha Ling in the North District, as well as reducing waste at source through direct economic incentives (e.g. introducing municipal solid waste charging and funding project of on-site food waste treatment), etc. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the breakdown of the volume of solid waste generated, the overall waste disposal rate at landfills and the waste recovery rate in Hong Kong in each of the past five years by type of waste, including glass, metal, plastics, paper, food waste, construction waste, sludge, electronic waste (including old computer and electrical appliance) and other waste (please specify the types);

(b) of the computation methods, standards and criteria for determining the aforesaid respective treatment capacity and target (including the daily capacity of IWMF to treat 3 000 tonnes of waste, the 55% target rate of waste recovery by 2015, as well as the daily treatment capacity of 200 and 300 tonnes of the two OWTFs);

(c) whether it has studied and assessed the amount of waste required to be reduced and the extent to which the waste recovery rate is required to be raised in Hong Kong in order to downsize the scale of the aforesaid IWMF and hence reduce its impacts on the environment with the adoption of waste reduction and recycling approaches for waste treatment; and

(d) given that at present, the Government has indicated that according to the medium to long-term planning strategy for waste management facilities, the construction of the IWMF on the artificial island near Shek Kwu Chau as compared to Tsang Tsui in Tuen Mun will achieve a more well-balanced spatial distribution for waste management facilities in Hong Kong as a whole, yet the Government pointed out in the "Integrated Waste Management Facilities Site Selection Report" in 2008 (the 2008 Report) that compared to Shek Kwu Chau and other potential sites, Tsang Tsui in Tuen Mun had achieved the highest overall score because of "the ease of integration with the existing landfill and waste reception facilities, much less impact on local ecology, shorter construction time, lower construction cost",

(i) whether the Government had referred to the 2008 Report in making the present proposal for the site; why the present proposal differs from the results in the 2008 Report;

(ii) of the respective overall costs for constructing the IWMF on the artificial island near Shek Kwu Chau and Tsang Tsui in Tuen Mun, with a breakdown by cost item (e.g. construction cost, operating cost and transportation cost, etc.); and

(iii) whether it had assessed the respective economic benefits to be brought to the two districts by constructing the IWMF at the two aforesaid sites, with specific figures to illustrate such benefits?

Reply

President,

Treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) is an unavoidable problem for every city. Our policy objective is to implement sustainable waste management strategies. Hong Kong generates about 18 000 tonnes of MSW daily. After discounting 52% of recovered materials from this generated quantity and adding other solid wastes (such as non-inert construction waste), we have to handle about 13 500 tonnes of waste daily, which are mostly disposed of at landfills before the introduction of large-scale modern waste treatment facilities. For a small and densely-populated city like Hong Kong, the practice of disposing a large quantity of waste generated daily in landfills is not sustainable.

To provide a more comprehensive and timely solution to the imminent waste problem in Hong Kong, the Government announced on January 4, 2011 a long-term action agenda to tackle the waste management problem of Hong Kong after reviewing the "2005-2014 Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste" (the Policy Framework). With "reduce, recycle and proper waste management" as the objective, the action agenda put forward the following three core strategies and the specific implementation timetable:

(i) strengthening efforts in promoting waste reduction at source and recycling at source;
(ii) introducing modern facilities for waste treatment; and
(iii) extending the existing landfills in a timely manner.

It should be noted that all these three strategies are essential to effectively resolve our waste management problem.

The Government has proposed a series of measures on waste treatment, reduction and recycling, which include raising the recovery target of MSW to 55% by 2015 through stepping up publicity and promotional efforts on waste reduction and recycling; expediting the legislative process for introducing new Producer Responsibility Schemes and extending the existing programmes to encourage waste reduction at source; consulting the public on possible options to introduce MSW charging as a direct economic disincentive to reduce waste at source. We will apply for funding from the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in early 2012 to expedite the development of advanced waste treatment facilities, including the integrated waste treatment facilities (IWTF) that can reduce the waste volume by 90% and turn waste into energy. In the meantime, we have to push ahead with the extension plans of existing landfills in order to maintain proper management of solid waste in compliance with the green requirements.

My reply to the question of the Honourable Mr Lee is as follows:

(a) A breakdown by quantities and major types of solid waste disposed of at landfills in the past five years, and as regards to waste recovery, a breakdown by the quantities generated and recovery rates of the major components of MSW in the past five years is available at the Annex.

(b) The Government has made reference to the historical trend of waste generation and recovery and the projections of social and economic activities in Hong Kong in assessing the future requirements for waste treatment. The assessments provided the basis for determining the demand and scale of the related waste treatment facilities. Waste reduction at source is a key component of our waste management strategy. As such, we will endeavour to forge a broad consensus within the community for the implementation of various waste reduction initiatives to complement the provision of facilities and upgrading of ancillary hardware.

Currently, the MSW recovery rate of Hong Kong stands at 52%, which compares favourably with many other cities at a similar level of development. Indeed, we have also exceeded the targets set in the 2005 Policy Framework (i.e. which aimed for 45% by 2009 and 50% by 2014). But we need to boost the recovery rate further. To this end, we will introduce a series of complementary measures and engage the relevant government departments, district councils, community organisations, the property management trade, restaurant operators and social services groups in order to raise the environmental awareness of the people in all walks of life and broaden their participation in waste reduction and recycling. Our objective is to raise the waste recovery rate to 55% by 2015.

The treatment capacity of waste treatment facilities was determined after a detailed analysis of various relevant factors. For instance, in planning the development of the local integrated waste treatment facilities (IWTF), we have reviewed the treatment capacities of similar facilities in other densely populated cities (such as Singapore which features similar demographic and geographical characteristics as Hong Kong) as well as our overall strategy on waste transfer and treatment (i.e. sending most of our local waste for compaction and containerisation at refuse transfer stations before transfer to landfills by marine transport). The final recommendation was phased development of IWMF in an appropriate scale with the daily capacity of the first phase IWTF set at 3 000 tonnes.

Currently, Hong Kong disposes of about 3 240 tonnes of food waste a day, of which about 840 tonnes are generated by the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector. Most of these food wastes end up in landfills. To address the problem of dumping food waste at landfills, the Government has adopted a multi-pronged approach. The key strategy is to prevent and minimise food waste generation and promote recovery and recycling to cope with unavoidable food waste through publicity, education and public participation. As storage of a large amount of food waste will give rise to odour nuisance and hygiene problems, it is not desirable to compact and containerise food waste at existing refuse transfer stations prior to long distance delivery. Instead, the food waste should be directly delivered to separate purpose-built facilities for special treatment. To this end, the Government plans to develop two organic waste treatment facilities (OWTF) with a daily capacity of 200-300 tonnes to treat source-separated biodegradable food waste from C&I establishments. A working group comprising representatives from the restaurant, hotel, property management and food manufacturing trades has been set up to draw up guidelines on ways to minimise, separate and recover food waste food waste. Through our site search study in 2007, we have identified possible sites at Siu Ho Wan of North Lantau and Sha Ling of North District for development of the first and second phases of the OWTF to treat food waste generated by the C&I sector in North Lantau, West Kowloon and Northern New Territories. We will also conduct site search studies for developing OWTF in other districts.

(c) We are committed to stepping up our efforts in reducing waste at source and recycling, as this is the only permanent solution to relieve the pressure for waste treatment. However, waste reduction at source and recycling cannot completely resolve waste problems in Hong Kong. The experience in Europe and other advanced cities shows that, even after the implementation of various measures on waste reduction at source, there is still a substantial amount of waste that cannot be recovered which requires treatment. As in Hong Kong, these cities handle their wastes by incineration in modern waste treatment facilities and landfilling the resultant ash.

For Hong Kong, there will still be a huge amount of MSW that cannot be recovered or recycled, amounting to about 8 000 tonnes per day (tpd), which requires treatment even after the target recovery rate of 55% is achieved. Given that our three landfills will become saturated in the next few years, we must plan for waste treatment by modern waste treatment facilities at the earliest opportunity to bring about a substantial reduction in landfilled waste. In view of the lead time required for planning and construction of waste treatment facilities, we must immediately commence the preparatory work for the first integrated waste management facility (IWMF) with a treatment capacity of 3 000 tpd and the two organic waste treatment facilities (at Siu Ho Wan and Sha Ling respectively).

(d)(i) The proposed site for the IWMF was chosen on the basis of substantial scientific studies and analyses and has taken into account the territory-wide spatial distribution of waste treatment facilities. We first conducted an initial territory-wide site selection study to examine the preliminary data of all possible sites in 2007-08 before identifying the sites at Tsang Tsui Ash Lagoons (TTAL) in Tuen Mun and the artificial island near Shek Kwu Chau (SKC) for further consideration in 2008.

As required under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance and the Technical Memorandum on the Environment Impact Assessment, we have conducted detailed environmental impact assessments (EIA) for the development of IWMF at these two sites to evaluate the cumulative impact of the project and other projects in respect of noise, air, water quality, waste, ecology, landscape and cultural heritage. The EIA report also recommended suitable mitigation measures to be adopted for ensuring that the environmental impact was limited to an acceptable level. It also recommended an environmental monitoring and audit programme for ensuring the effectiveness of these measures.

The EIA findings indicated that both phased and simultaneous development of IWMF at the two sites would meet the EIA requirements. Having considered the spatial distribution of our waste management facilities, environmental factors and transport efficiency, the Government selected the artificial island next to SKC as the site for the first IWMF on the following grounds:

- The proposed choice ensures a more balanced spatial distribution of waste facilities. For the Western New Territories, there is West New Territories Landfill and the proposed West New Territories Landfill extension. There is also a sludge treatment facility with a capacity of 2 000 tpd under construction at TTAL. For the North New Territories, there is North East New Territories Landfill and the proposed landfill extension. For the East New Territories, there is South East New Territories Landfill and proposed landfill extension. For the urban area, there is Tsing Yi Chemical Waste Treatment Centre. The development of the IWMF at the southern tip of Hong Kong will help achieve a more balanced spatial distribution of facilities;

- The artificial island next to SKC is closer to the Island East, Island West and Kowloon refuse transfer stations, the catchment area for the IWMF. The sea route for delivering solid waste from these stations to the artificial island next to SKC is shorten by 25% when compared with the route to TTAL in West New Territories. Moreover, the choice would not cause significant impact on the marine traffic in the area. Instead, it can help reduce the marine traffic in Ma Wan;

- The SKC site is far away from the densely populated areas. It is located at about 3.5 to 5 km from Cheung Chau, which is not in the direction of prevailing wind (northeasterly wind towards southwest in the sea). The IWMF will have advanced incineration technology and air cleansing systems on site to further minimise impact caused by gas emission on ambient air quality and, hence, the residents nearby; and

- The IWMF and its on-site educational and community facilities under planning would bring considerable economic benefits to the nearby islands (especially Cheung Chau). Apart from more jobs and ferry services, the development will also bring in streams of workers and visitors that will, in turn, generate other economic activities and benefits.

(ii) Regarding the overall costs, we are working on the estimates for the construction and operation costs of the integrated facilities, the necessary equipment and ancillary facilities. We will seek funding from the Legislative Council after completing the estimates.

(iii) Regarding the economic benefits generated during the construction and operation of the IWMF, there will be about 1,000 workers working on the island and in the surrounding waters during the peak construction period. When it commences operation, there will be about 200 workers working every day in the facility. Besides, the education centre and associated facilities for visitors at the IWMF under planning will also draw in students as well as other visitors. As the site on SKC is far from the urban areas, Cheung Chau will serve as its key back-up area, both during the construction and operation of the IWMF. This will provide a great boost to the economic activities related to accommodation, retail and catering trades in Cheung Chau. As for the TTAL site, it would also draw in comparable number of engineering staff, workers and visitors. But given its more convenient land transport, they are expected to spend less time at the nearby communities. As such, this option would generate less economic benefits for the local communities.

[hkskyline]

LCQ19: South East New Territories Landfill
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Government Press Release

Following is a question by the Hon Ip Wai-ming and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council meeting today (February 1):

Questions:

The South East New Territories (SENT) Landfill, which is located in Area 101 at Tseung Kwan O and was commissioned in 1994, was originally expected to be exhausted by around 2013. The Government earlier pointed out that as the Integrated Waste Management Facilities which could effectively reduce the volume of waste requiring disposal at landfills would only be commissioned in mid 2010s, extension of the SENT Landfill in early to mid 2010s was therefore necessary. Apart from the odour from the SENT Landfill which affects the nearby residents, quite a number of drivers have recently complained to me that many dump trucks going in and out of the SENT Landfill via Wan Po Road are not properly covered with canvas, causing environmental pollution in the vicinity of Wan Po Road, and traffic accidents frequently occur there because stones and sand dropping from the cargo compartments of those dump trucks hit and break the windows of other vehicles on the road. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council :

(a) of the number of complaints about odour from the SENT Landfill received each month by the authorities in the past three years; whether the authorities have any new measure in place to alleviate the odour nuisance from the landfill; if they have, of the details and the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that;

(b) whether the authorities had received any complaint in the past three years about environmental pollution in the vicinity of Wan Po Road; if they had, of the number and contents of such complaints;

(c) among the traffic accidents which occurred on Wan Po Road in the past three years, of the number of those involving dump trucks; whether the authorities have analysed the causes of such traffic accidents; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(d) whether the authorities had prosecuted dump truck drivers in the past three years for overloading or non-compliance with environmental protection measures; if they had, of the number of such prosecutions and the offences involved in general; if not, the reasons for that; whether the authorities have provided guidelines to advise vehicles entering the SENT Landfill to enhance their protective facilities; if they have, of the details; if not, whether they will consider formulating such guidelines; and

(e) whether the authorities have conducted any environmental pollution survey in Tseung Kwan O district since the commissioning of the SENT Landfill; if they have, of the details; if not, whether the authorities have any plan to conduct a comprehensive environmental pollution survey in the district?

Reply:

President,

Hong Kong is now facing an imminent waste management problem. At present, about 13,500 tonnes of waste are disposed of daily at the three strategic landfills, namely South East New Territories (SENT) Landfill, North East New Territories Landfill and West New Territories Landfill and these three landfills are estimated to be exhausted in 2014, 2016 and 2018 respectively. To resolve the imminent waste management problem in a comprehensive and timely manner, the Government announced on January 4, 2011 a revised waste management strategy and its updated action plan to tackle the waste management problem in Hong Kong in the long run. With the initiatives of "Reduce, Recycle and Proper Waste Management", the Government brings up three strategies which include promoting waste reduction and recycling at source, introducing modern waste treatment facilities and timely extension of landfills.

Since early 2004 when the SENT Landfill extension project was at its conceptual and feasibility study stage, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has already started the consultation with all stakeholders. After prolonged discussion, the Government understands the views of the residents of Tseung Kwan O town on the SENT Landfill extension, and has positively addressed their concerns by scaling down the extension scheme. This means the reduced scheme will not occupy 5-hectares of the Clear Water Bay Country Park, the area of landfill extension in Tseung Kwan O Area 137 will be reduced to 13 hectares (as against the original 15.6 hectares), and the proposed SENT Landfill extension will only receive odourless waste (namely construction waste), in order to solve the odour problem of the landfill. We believe that if the revised SENT Landfill extension scheme could be implemented, the future SENT Landfill extension will only receive construction waste which is odourless, and the concerns from the residents will then be fully addressed.

Regarding the question raised by the Hon Ip, our replies are as follows:

(a) The number of odour complaints in Tseung Kwan O received by EPD relating to the landfill in the past three years is as follows:

2009 2010 2011
January 4 0 5
February 2 9 14
March 4 32 12
April 9 14 23
May 27 22 74
June 170 91 194
July 130 108 299
August 137 256 320
September 42 121 81
October 9 29 20
November 12 32 73
December 2 39 5
Total 548 753 1,120

To minimise the environmental impacts of the landfill on the surrounding areas, the landfill was designed and constructed to a high standard as a secure containment facility incorporating composite impermeable liner systems and proper systems for the collection and treatment of landfill gas and leachate. To address the concerns from the Tseung Kwan O residents on odour nuisance, the EPD has stepped up odour management and control measures over the past five years to further abate the potential odour impact of the landfill. These measures include covering the tipping areas with a layer of soil and then Posi-Shell Cover, a cement-based cover material, at the end of the daily waste reception process; covering the non-active tipping areas with temporary impermeable liners; setting up fixed deodorisers at the landfill boundary; providing additional mobile deodorisers at the tipping area; putting a mobile cover on the special waste trench; and installing additional landfill gas extraction pipes and mobile landfill gas flaring units. The EPD will continue to implement the above measures and ensure that the completed waste disposal areas are capped and restored promptly.

Refuse collection vehicles are one of the potential odour sources. To improve the cleanliness of these vehicles leaving the landfill, the EPD has upgraded the existing wheel washing facility into a full-body vehicle washing facility to ensure that the entire body of every refuse collection vehicle is washed before leaving the landfill to minimise the odour nuisance caused by such vehicles. To mitigate the potential odour problem caused by dripping leachate from refuse collection vehicles, the EPD will continue to step up the cleansing work for the section of Wan Po Road between the SENT Landfill and the roundabout at Hang Hau and review the effectiveness of this measure regularly.

(b) Between 2009 and 2011, the EPD received three odour emission complaints and seven dust emission cases against vehicles passing Wan Po Road.

(c) The traffic accident database does not have a separate category for dump trucks in its vehicle records. We have been informed that there were about 10 traffic accidents on Wan Po Road per year involving medium and heavy goods vehicles in the past three years, but there is no information on whether the accidents were related to conveying fill debris.

(d) The database on prosecution does not have a separate category for dump trucks in its vehicle records. As for vehicles entering the SENT Landfill, the EPD will remind the trade to cover properly the construction waste during conveyance to prevent dust emission or materials from falling off on the road at its regular meetings with the trade and through distribution of leaflets at the landfill.

(e) In response to the concerns from the Sai Kung District Council and residents, the EPD closely monitors and takes follow-up actions on the environmental problems in Tseung Kwan O including individual issues of concern such as odour. For example, electronic odour detection systems (i.e. electronic nose) were installed at Ocean Shores and SENT Landfill to help identify the nature and source of odour. For odour complaint cases, the EPD will promptly investigate and follow up. For instance, it will understand the odour situation at complaint location, identify the odour source and provide timely assistance. The EPD even extends the work shift of its staff to 11pm to handle odour complaints received outside office hours for the period between June and October when there are more odour complaints.

In addition, the Sai Kung District Officer has established an inter-departmental working group comprising representatives from the Sai Kung District Office, EPD, Hong Kong Police Force, Transport Department, Civil Engineering and Development Department, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Drainage Services Department, Sai Kung District Lands Office and Highways Department, to strengthen the co-ordination of investigation and follow-up actions among government departments to tackle environmental nuisances in Tseung Kwan O, including Wan Po Road. Since its establishment in 2005, the Group has held many meetings, implemented improvement measures at Wan Po Road and its vicinity, and conducted joint enforcement and prosecution operations.

[hkskyline]

Quickfire funding on waste projects urged
The Standard
Thursday, March 22, 2012

Environment officials plan to ask the Legislative Council to pass existing landfill extensions and incinerator projects in a bundle and complete funding approval in June before the handover to the new government.

Documents released yesterday by the Legislative Council panel on environmental affairs show the Environment Bureau will seek a quickfire approval of funding for extending three landfill sites.

According to the bureau and the Environment Protection Department, all waste treatment projects should be pursued as a package.

"Any delay of this package would seriously impact on the ability of Hong Kong to handle waste and maintain the environmental hygiene expected of an international city," the department said.

Subject to funding approval, the advanced waste treatment facilities will require seven years for reclamation, construction and commissioning.

On landfill extensions, they require a few years for site preparation work before commissioning.

The combined capital costs of a mega-incinerator capable of burning 3,000 tonnes of waste each day and extending landfills in Tseung Kwan O, Tuen Mun and North District will be just over HK$23 billion.

The government plans to build a giant incinerator on 16 hectares of reclaimed land at Shek Kwu Chau, an island south of Lantau.

Environmentalists say the super incinerator is not the best option for waste management and would pose a threat to marine life in the area. The project is one of the largest and most expensive of its kind in the world and will cost between HK$8 billion and HK$13 billion.

The incinerator would emit about 2,900 tonnes of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide and 217 tonnes of respirable suspended particles per year.

Earlier this month, Environment Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah insisted that the government will stick with the "holistic" strategy for solid waste reduction that includes an incinerator.

In January, the department launched a three- month public consultation on proposals to cut the massive piles of waste produced by Hongkongers annually.

Each day they dump 19,000 tonnes of solid waste - with 9,100 tonnes going to landfills. About two-thirds is domestic waste.

The four proposed schemes to wage a war on waste include a quantity-based system, water proxy system, fixed-charge system and a part-charge system at the disposal site.

Under the proposals, fees may be charged according to the number or weight of rubbish bags; or be linked to water consumption; or charged at a fixed rate, with residents of the same district paying the same amount regardless of how much waste they produce; or there may be variable rates for waste producers in commerce and industry.

Results of the consultation, which ends on April 10, will be delivered to the Legislative Council for consideration.