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April 11th, 2013:

A forum on incineration

Apr 11th, 2013
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Thursday, 11 April, 2013, 12:00am

Business

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Howard Winn howard.winn@scmp.com

A forum on incineration

Incineration is a sensitive topic these days. The government has for the moment put on hold plans to build one on the island of Shek Kwu Chau near Lantau. There has been growing opposition around the world to traditional mass burn incinerators, which many see as a threat to the environment and public health. There are those who maintain that modern incinerators are safe. Others hold that plasma gasification is a cleaner technology and safer from a public health perspective. All this and more can be discussed at a Public Forum on Thermal Technology for Waste Management in Metropolises, which is being held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on May 7.

It’s being organised by Professor Jonathan Wong the director of the unfortunately named Sino-Forest Applied Research Centre for Pearl River Delta Environment, at Baptist University. Sino-Forest, it will be recalled, is being investigated for fraud and filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada last year.

There will be a panel of five speakers: Professor Nickolas Themelis, chair, Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council, US; Professor Umberto Arena, chair, Specialist Group on Waste to Energy, IWWG, Second University of Naples; Peter Simoes, technical director, Afval Energie Bedrijf, the Netherlands; Dr Lee Potts, technical manager (energy) AECOM; and Elvis Au, assistant director of Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department.

Source URL (retrieved on Apr 11th 2013, 5:18am): http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1211726/why-are-london-barristers-calling-hong-kong-treasure-island

Tonnes of foreign garbage seized in Shanghai

Apr 11th, 2013
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Beijing: Customs officials in Shanghai seized 6,000 tonnes of waste tailings in March amid a crackdown on illegally imported garbage, state media reported on Thursday.

Eight people have been detained in two cases for allegedly attempting to smuggle the tailings under fake documents that labelled them as metal ores, a customs official said.

The seizure came after officials launched “Operation Green Fence” in February.

Officials have detected excessive amounts of arsenic and cadmium from the tailings, which could have caused contamination if processed by small refineries in China, said Hu Licong, a customs official in Shanghai.

Hu said the tailings were imported mainly from countries in western Asia and eastern Europe.

Shanghai’s customs also revealed today that they have also intercepted 115 tonnes of waste tires, which China has banned from import over pollution concerns.

Launched to strengthen supervision and crack down on imports of banned waste, the campaign has seen 383 containers of foreign waste seized for violating Chinese regulations.

Customs data shows that the busy port of Shanghai handled imports of solid waste with a total value of 414 million US dollars in 2012, up 3.2 per cent year-on-year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Chinese law on the control of solid waste bans imports that cannot be used as raw materials or be recycled by harmless means.

High profits, however, have fuelled smuggling, which is often conducted by conspiring with overseas organisations.