James Middleton	05:45 (17 hours ago)
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Home > Rural strongman has his own ideas for landfill site

Wednesday, 17 July, 2013, 12:00am

News›Hong Kong

DEVELOPMENT

Ada Lee ada.lee@scmp.com

The Environmental Protection Department has commissioned a study into the generation, recycling and disposal of plastic waste, trying to probe irregularities in the rate of waste recycling.

The study was revealed yesterday after a media report that cast doubt over the accuracy of recycling rate. The doubt originated in the inclusion by the EPD of exports of imported plastic waste that is recycled in the city.

The department last night rejected claims in the report that the recycling rate was misleading. It said the inclusion of export figures was common practice.

“The method is in line with international practices,” a spokesman said.

The spokesman also said calculation of the overall recycling rate was based on data collected from waste reception facilities, data submitted by local recyclers, export figures for recovered waste and information from inspections of local recyclers.

The EPD said 840,000 tonnes of plastic waste was recovered and recycled in 2011, down 47 per cent from 2010. During the same period, solid waste recycling also fell from 52 per cent to 48 per cent. The EPD said it noted the “unusual fluctuation”.

A source familiar with the situation said that might have arisen from a lack of rigour in the declaration system for waste imports and exports of plastic waste.

“There is currently not a sound system and most of the data is dependent on recyclers,” the source said.

There is currently not a sound system and most of the data is dependent on recyclers

They said the study was launched early this year to find out if there were flaws in the system and to identify how to revamp the declaration system. The study is expected to be complete by year’s end and the results will be made public.

Meanwhile, before the fate of the Tuen Mun landfill has even been decided, Heung Yee Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat has some suggestions for its next incarnation. Lau, who wants the government to withdraw its controversial expansion plan for the site, said yesterday that residents should have something to look forward to “when it is closed”.

He asked: “Should it become a park, or should they build a swimming pool or a football pitch there?”

Topics:

Tuen Mun landfill

Source URL (retrieved on Jul 17th 2013, 5:19am): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1284206/environmental-protection-department-probes-big-swings-citys-waste

Home > Look at waste-to-energy option

Look at waste-to-energy option

Comment›Letters

The protests over the proposed landfill expansions have further highlighted the need for an independent review of Hong Kong’s waste management plan.

The government has recognised the problem, but is not able to present a convincing solution. Its solution, proposed by the last administration, and simply regurgitated by the current one, lacks any credibility and that is why an independent review is necessary.

The waste problem is for everybody in Hong Kong to solve. Any solution that seeks to dump the problem on one sector of the community or in one area is flawed.

Why should Tseung Kwan O residents accept one-third of Hong Kong’s total refuse? Why should South Lantau became the new dumping ground just because officials believe the small population will protest less than Tseung Kwan O or Tuen Mun residents?

A waste management policy should not be driven by short- term thinking or by adopting the line of least resistance.

The long-term goal must be to remove the existing landfill nuisance. This is possible over time as landfill waste can be used as fuel for modern waste-to-energy facilities. An independent review and an honest public debate will determine whether modern waste-to-energy incinerators are a health hazard. Technology has progressed a long way in recent years but the failure of government to convince Hong Kong people on this issue has resulted in stalemate – who should we believe?

In parallel with much greater efforts to recycle, and assuming there is a convincing case on the health issue, the government should proceed now with a waste-to-energy incinerator on, or adjacent to, each of the three existing landfills.

In addition, smaller waste-to-energy facilities should be located in other areas, including one for Lantau and the outlying islands, to reduce the transportation of waste and to send the right message that everybody in Hong Kong must be part of the solution.

To mitigate the nuisance, residents close to these facilities should benefit from a 50 per cent reduction in electricity bills. The government has enough money and should use it to encourage solutions, not ever more protests. Waste management is everybody’s responsibility. No more nimby (not in my backyard) thinking – it is time for concerted action by all.

It is time for the government, our legislators and district councils to face the problem and show true leadership in agreeing a solution acceptable to Hong Kong people.

G. Chan, Sai Wan Ho

Topics:

Tuen Mun landfill

http://7thspace.com/headlines/440186/epd_clarifies_media_reports_on_arrangements_for_waste_plastic_disposal.html

EPD clarifies media reports on arrangements for waste plastic disposal

Hong Kong (HKSAR) – In response to media enquiries about the arrangements for disposal of waste plastics, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) made the following clarification today (June 27):

The EPD has been stringently monitoring the disposal of waste at landfills and refuse transfer stations. The disposal of contaminated waste plastics which are not suitable for recycling is also subject to this strict monitoring requirement.

Responding to recent enquiries from the recycling industry on the monitoring arrangements, the EPD issued a document in mid-June to assist recyclers in understanding and complying with the relevant requirements. The monitoring arrangements will help ensure that (i) no waste plastics imported from other places are sent to the landfills or refuse transfer stations for disposal; and (ii) locally generated waste plastics which are still suitable for recycling are not delivered to landfills or refuse transfer stations for disposal.

Accordingly, EPD officers will conduct inspections at recycling plants to confirm compliance with the above requirements before the delivery of such waste plastics for disposal.

The document points out that waste plastics imported from other places are not allowed to be disposed of in Hong Kong and the EPD will require the recyclers or importers to return such waste to its place of origin. As for local recyclables that have been seriously contaminated and are not suitable for recycling, recyclers can contact the EPD to arrange the disposal of such waste at landfills or refuse transfer stations after inspection by the EPD.

If the waste plastics are found to be suitable for recycling, the EPD will follow up with the recyclers and provide assistance in recycling the materials.

Furthermore, the EPD has been working together with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). Under the provisions of the recyclables collection services contract between the FEHD and the contractor, the latter is required to collect and handle different kinds of recyclables separately, and deliver the recyclables so collected to designated recyclers who are on the list of recyclables collectors/recyclers available on EPD’s website, on the same day. The contract also specifies that any litter or waste other than recyclables mingled with the recyclables inside the collection bins should be sorted out and disposed of at designated refuse collection points.

The FEHD attaches great importance to the performance of contractors. It monitors the work of contractors through regular and surprise field checks. Should any unsatisfactory performance or breach of contract provisions be found, punitive actions will be taken against the contractor concerned appropriately, which include the issue of warnings, default notices or deduction of monthly payment.

The EPD also calls on members of the public to carefully separate waste and avoid mixing recyclables with other waste that may cause contamination.

Recyclables containing food residues or drinks should not be thrown into waste separation bins so as to avoid contamination with other recyclables in the bins, causing them to be unsuitable for recycling.

Source: HKSAR Government

http://www.prw.com/subscriber/headlines2.html?cat=1&id=3148

Hong Kong sees pyrolysis as hedge against ‘green fence’

By Steve Toloken, Plastics News

Posted 12 July 2013

While China’s “green fence” crackdown on recycled material imports has caused some painful adjustments for recyclers, one Hong Kong company is suggesting some relief could come from building a pyrolysis factory to convert plastic waste to fuel oil.

Hong Kong Telford Envirotech Group, which has three plastics recycling plants in Hong Kong and two in neighbouring Guangdong province in China, is proposing to build the pyrolysis plant, which would have an initial capacity of processing 7,200 metric tons of waste plastic annually.

It would start operations in 2015 in Hong Kong’s Tuen Mun section, according to an application Telford filed with local government officials.

The company sees it partly as a hedge against recent restrictions on waste material imports into China — including the so-called “green fence” crackdown that began in February, said Joanne Lee, project manager for Telford, in a July 11 interview with Plastics News.

Those February restrictions, which are in many ways the toughest yet in China, have had an impact broadly on Hong Kong’s plastics recyclers.

One Hong Kong recycling industry trade group said earlier this month that an estimated 10,000 metric tons of waste plastic that in the past would have been sent to China for recycling has instead been landfilled in Hong Kong.

Officials with the Federation of Hong Kong Recycle told the South China Morning Post newspaper that Hong Kong plastic recycling companies are losing on average £20,000 per month because of the new policy.

Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory of 7 million people, lacks enough of its own capacity to process the materials, the group said.

Lee said Telford believes its pyrolysis plant can make Hong Kong less dependent on mainland China and other markets for its waste plastics.

Lee said even before the “green fence” restrictions, mainland Chinese government officials would once or twice a year implement new policies that would make it more difficult to bring in waste materials, even for companies like Telford that have proper licenses.

She said the company would likely send lower-value materials like low density polyethylene bags or PVC to the waste-to-fuel plant, but continue to recycle higher-value materials like PET bottles.

She said the material that’s now being thrown away in Hong Kong is probably lower-quality plastic: “If the 10,000 tons is PET bottles, it would not be thrown into the landfill.”

Telford could eventually triple the capacity of the pyrolysis plant, Lee said. Initially, the operation would produce up to 4,300 metric tons of fuel oil a year.

The company is proposing building the facility at an industrial park for environmentally oriented businesses in Tuen Mun, where the company already has an existing plastics recycling operation.

The project is currently undergoing an environmental assessment, Lee said.

Beyond the new restrictions from mainland China, Hong Kong also faces home grown pressures on waste issues. The territory’s environmental protection department says that its three landfills will run out of space in the next six years.

In Telford’s initial proposal to the Hong Kong government in January, it said the plant could also help Hong Kong more broadly meet its waste reduction goals, including further developing its local recycling industry.

http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20130519/NEWS/130519922/china-s-green-fence-makes-unprecedented-cuts-in-recycled-plastic-imports#

China’s ‘Green Fence’ makes unprecedented cuts in recycled plastic imports

By Steve Toloken
Staff Reporter / Asia Bureau Chief

Published: May 19, 2013 2:35 pm ET
Updated: May 19, 2013 2:38 pm

Topics Sustainability, Recycling, Materials Suppliers, CHINAPLAS

GUANGZHOU, CHINA — China’s “Green Fence” crackdown on dirty scrap materials has reduced imports of plastic waste by 5.5 percent in the first four months of the year, a significant change for a country long-used to double-digit increases in recycled materials flowing in.

Imports of scrap plastic bound for recycling factories in the country fell to 2.4 million metric tons from January through April, after the Chinese government in February started implementing what recycling industry officials say is the toughest crackdown yet on imports of scrap materials.

The disclosure of the 5.5 percent drop, in figures provided by China’s General Administration of Customs at a mid-May conference in Guangzhou, is one of the first statistical indications that the Green Fence policy is having a big impact on the industry.

While that drop may sound small, it’s a major change in direction for an industry that has seen scrap polymer imports grow four-fold in the last decade and was accustomed to nothing but increasing volumes.

Chinese government officials say they are trying to limit pollution from dirty or contaminated waste materials such as scrap paper or plastics from other countries, and see the policy as a way to force the local industry to upgrade to higher, cleaner standards.

But some recycling industry executives, while supporting those goals, say the policies are also hurting legitimate businesses by causing long delays clearing materials at customs, creating shortages of materials in manufacturing plants, and cutting into profits.

Speaking at a meeting of Chinese plastics recyclers in Guangzhou May 18-19, Chinese government representatives said they plan to continue the “Green Fence” operation through October or November.

The next phases will include exerting tighter control over the limited number of licenses issued to import scrap materials in China, including the practice of companies selling licenses, government officials said at the conference, sponsored by the Beijing-based China Scrap Plastics Association conference.

Steve Wong, executive chairman of the CSPA and chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based recycler Fukutomi Co. Ltd., said that the crackdown is the most serious in China yet.

It’s not a result of new law but rather much stricter enforcement of existing laws, he said.

China has had other crackdowns over the last few years, including a more localized one that saw scrap plastic imports through the port of Guangzhou, one of China’s largest for recycled materials, drop 52 percent in the first half of 2012.

Other ports in the country at the time reported an increase in scrap plastic imports, as shipments were rerouted, but the new Chinese government figures point to the tighter policies being applied country-wide.

Wong said this particular initiative is more serious because it’s part of a package of environmental policies supported by the country’s top leaders, including current President Xi Jinping.

He said for Fukotomi, imports of scrap plastic have dropped 30 percent, and some companies at the conference pointed to similar drops for them.

But for other companies, the policies are proving beneficial.

Ni-Met Metals and Minerals Inc., an Oakville, Ontario-based recycler, said it’s seeing increased demand from its customers in China because of Green Fence and the resulting shortage of materials there.

The company has always only supplied materials that clearly meet Chinese standards, so it’s had no problems clearing customs, said Rajiv Shah, vice president of plastics with the company.

“We’ve had a philosophy of behaving in a socially-responsible manner and that is paying off now,” said Shah, in an interview at his company’s booth at the show.

Customs officials said they see the policy as helping the industry upgrade.

“This Green Fence is like a purification which will facilitate the further development of this industry,” said Lu Xi Sen, an official with the Tianjin office of China’s customs administration.

One recycler, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the policy had a dramatic impact on the company in February, when it was unable to get any materials to its factory in eastern Guangdong province.

But the company, which does not have a license to import materials directly, found a solution that works around the limits.

It buys its material from a factory that has that license, and while that practice may not be legal because factories with licenses are supposed to recycle all the material they import themselves, it’s becoming a common solution, the manager said.

“Everyone is doing like this,” the manager said. “Maybe some huge factory is not but most of the small factories do this.”

He said part of the problem is that the government limits the number of licenses, and getting one can be difficult and require political connections, creating incentives for corruption

So before China’s ‘Green Fence’ initiative HK companies were importing scrap plastic then re-exporting it to China and these quantities were included in Hong Kong’s recycling figures ?

http://www.news.gov.hk/en/categories/environment/html/2013/06/20130627_183423.shtml

Waste plastic can’t be dumped in HK

June 27, 2013

The Environmental Protection Department has clarified that waste plastics imported from other places cannot be disposed of in Hong Kong.

The department made the clarification today in response to media enquiries about the arrangements for disposal of waste plastics.

The department said it has been stringently monitoring waste disposal at landfills and refuse transfer stations. The disposal of contaminated waste plastics unsuitable for recycling is also subject to this strict monitoring requirement.

It issued a document in mid-June to help recyclers understand and comply with the requirements.

The document states waste plastics imported from other places cannot be disposed of in Hong Kong, and must be returned to its place of origin.

Recyclers can contact the department to arrange for disposal of local recyclables that have been seriously contaminated. If the waste plastics are found to be suitable for recycling, the department will follow up with the recyclers and provide assistance in recycling them.

Under the recyclables collection services contract between the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department and the contractor, the latter is required to collect and handle different kinds of recyclables separately, and deliver them to designated recyclers on the same day.

The contract also specifies that any litter or waste other than recyclables mingled with the recyclables inside the collection bins should be sorted out and disposed of at designated refuse collection points.

Should any unsatisfactory performance or breach of contract provisions be found, punitive actions will be taken against the contractor concerned, which include the issue of warnings, default notices or deduction of monthly payment.