8 June 2005 - Press Release
BEC hosted Sustainable Waste Management: Policies, Partnerships & Prospects Conference
Urged Everyone to Take Greater Responsibility and Stronger Measures to Avoid Waste

The Business Environment Council (BEC) today hosted the second EnviroSeries conference: Sustainable Waste Management: Policies, Partnership & Prospects at the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel to provide a cross-sector platform for government, policy makers, civil society and industry experts to debate and share views on this pressing technical, social and political issue in Hong Kong. At the current rate of municipal solid waste being produced from households, offices and other commercial and industrial premises, Hong Kong will be running out of landfill space in 6 to 10 years.

"We are now considering appropriate technologies for the development of large-scale waste treatment facilities to reduce the volume of non-recyclable waste and also developing our proposals on other initiatives such as Product Responsibility Schemes,"stated Mr. KK Kwok of the Government -Environmental Protection Department, "waste prevention and recycling have been and will continue to be our focus."

Government will address the non-recyclable waste issue in the findings of its study on integrated waste management facilities. "It is important for the community to draw up a comprehensive plan now to set out actions to achieve sustainable management of municipal solid waste,"said Mr. Raymond Fan, Deputy Director of Environmental Protection Department. The government is working towards publishing a policy document later this year on this matter.

Urged by the Council for Sustainable Development, the Government is pressing ahead to meet the targets set by the Council based on the discussions that took place in a series of stakeholder engagement workshops last year. Mr. Albert Lai, the Chairman of the People's Council for Sustainable Development, who spoke on a "Sustainable Waste Management Strategy for Hong Kong" was directly involved in running the workshops and developing the targets.

Business responded, with the plea for "a new generation of 'sustainable' legislation, economic incentives, robust, proven technologies and positive, waste management partnerships that will sustainably benefit Hong Kong's economy, society and environment." The views of business were reflected by Mr. James Graham, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce Environment Committee Chairman. Other speakers from the industry also expressed their ideas on public private partnerships and industry-led initiatives on solid waste management, and working with government on projects such as the Eco-Park, which will benefit the recycling industry.

In addition to ideas presented by local experts for resolving our solid waste problems, two overseas speakers from Taiwan and Canada, shared their experiences at the conference.

"The Continuous downward trend of trash volume that went to three municipal incinerators and the landfill site in the past four and half years has demonstrated the power of economic instruments," said Dr. Stephen Shen from the Jin Wen Institute of Technology (Taiwan). He also talked about the 2010 Zero Landfill and Total Recycling targets of Taipei where a series of policies and strategies to reduce, recycle and reuse municipal waste have been in place since 2000 including the "Per Bag Trash Collection Fee".

The City of Toronto presently diverts over 30% of the overall residential and municipal waste produced away from landfill through its numerous recycling and composting programs. Mr. Angelos Bacopoulos, General Manager of Solid Waste Management Services, explained how Toronto achieved its present rate of diversion, and how it plans to increase its diversion of waste from landfill to 60% and 100% by 2008 and 2012 respectively.

Ms. Choy So-yuk JP, Legislative Council member, presented the views from a policy maker perspective on how a sustainable waste management strategy would be possible in Hong Kong. What was called for is "financial incentives and mandatory measures to effectuate product responsibility schemes; recovery of waste through source separation and a centralized waste separation facility; and environmental friendly ways of treatment and disposal of non-recyclable waste."

In planning this conference the sense of urgency has been clear. "We are all important actors in the required waste management transformation, it is important to educate the community to accept the realities that we must all take greater responsibility and stronger measures to avoid waste," Mr Andrew Long, Chairman of BEC remarked.

Conference materials are available for downloading:

Program Booklet

Post Conference Report by BEC

Welcome Speech (Speech)
Mr. Andrew LONG
Chairman, Business Environment Council
Chief Operating Officer, The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

Scene Setting: Sustainable Waste Management Strategy Opening Remarks (Speech)
Mr. Raymond FAN
Deputy Director, Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Government

Sustainable Waste Management Strategy in HK: Barriers and Challenges Ahead (presentation)
Mr. Albert LAI
Convenor of Support Group on Solid Waste Management, Council for Sustainable Development, HKSAR Government
Chairman, Hong Kong People's Council for Sustainable Development

Session 1: Considerations on the Sustainable Waste Management Strategy in Hong Kong
Moderator:
Mr. C. K. LAU
Executive Editor, Policy, South China Morning Post

Environmental Considerations in Choosing MSW Management Options (presentation)
Prof. C. S. POON
Professor, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Economic Aspects of Sustainable Waste Management Strategy in Hong Kong (presentation)
Mr. James GRAHAM
Chairman of Environment Committee, The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce

Community Participation in Solid Waste Source Separation Programme (presentation)
Dr. Jonathan WONG
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University

Policy Maker Perspective (presentation)
Ms. CHOY So-Yuk
Legislative Councillor

Session 2: Municipal Waste Treatment Alternatives Considered in Hong Kong
Moderator:
Mr. James TAM
Director and General Manager, Swire SITA Waste Services Limited

Overview of Waste Treatment Technology (presentation)
Prof. Joseph LEE
Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong

Waste Management Policy and Strategy in Taipei City (presentation)
Dr. Stephen SHEN
Ex-Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection, Taipei City Government
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Management, Jin Wen Institute of Technology

City of Toronto's Waste Diversion Initiatives: Zero Waste to Landfill by 2012 (presentation)
Mr. Angelos BACOPOULOS
General Manager of Solid Waste Management Services, City of Toronto

Session 3: Beyond Integrated Waste Management Strategy
Moderator:
Dr. Thomas TANG, Senior Advisor, Business Environment Council

Waste Management: Sustainable Development Through Partnership with Industry (presentation)
Mr. Robin CHIU
Director-General, Federation of Hong Kong Industries

Public-Private Partnership on Waste Management in Hong Kong (presentation)
Mr. Joseph LIM
Proposal Development Manager, Onyx Hong Kong

Closing Remarks (Speech)
Mr. K. K. KWOK
Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works (Environment) Director of Environmental Protection, HKSAR Government

Press contact
Estrid Wai, Communications and Marketing Manager, T. 2784 3922