【明報專訊】The government

Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing (環境局長黃錦星) has said the government has published Hong Kong Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources 2013-2022 (《香港資源循環藍圖2013-2022》), which includes a timetable for carrying out various waste reduction projects, such as legislating for waste charging by 2016/17. The government will put forward the next phase of Producer Responsibility Schemes and further encourage recycling. Wong has pointed out it is necessary to extend the existing landfills because they will be full in five years. According to him, there is wide support for the plan of ''extending the three landfills and building an incinerator''.

Green groups

Friends of the Earth (地球之友), the Conservancy Association (長春社), Greeners Action (綠領行動) and Green Power (綠色力量) have jointly demanded that the government guarantee certain concrete measures will be taken before it carries out its plan of expanding three landfills and building an incinerator. For example, they want it to implement waste charging by 2016, prohibit the disposal of recyclable garbage in any landfill and evaluate annually the effectiveness of waste reduction measures and make public its findings.

Residents of affected districts

Residents of Tseung Kwan O think the government must ease air pollution in the district before seeking their support for its plan to expand landfills. Meanwhile, Cheung Chau residents are worried that, if there is an incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau (石鼓洲), the southwest monsoon (季候風) may carry toxic emissions from it to the island in summer.

Environmental expert

The HKUST has compared the amount of greenhouse emissions by landfills with that of those from an incinerator. Its study shows an incinerator produces smaller amounts of emissions than a landfill but is six times as efficient in power generation. Professor Irene Lo of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the HKUST (科技大學土木及環境工程學系教授勞敏慈) suggests that the government weigh the environmental impact of landfills and incinerators and opt for the incinerator plan, which is the greener option.

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (香港總商會) believes that, in Hong Kong, the only feasible ways of waste management at this moment are incineration and disposal at landfills.