Following is the transcript (English portion) of a standup briefing by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, on implementation of Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme today (January 27):
Dr Liao: We have just enacted the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme and it has been running generally smooth for a week. We have a large number of deposits at our landfill from about over two thousand vehicles. But for the recycling plant and also the fill bank, we actually have over ten thousand (vehicles of) deposits.
Recently, there has been some problem regarding how to distinguish between materials that are recyclable and those that have to go straight to the landfill.
We had a meeting with the trade today. We have reached a consensus regarding the ratio which we use for deciding whether a batch of waste goes to which plant. Actually, the ratio is specified under the ordinance and regulation which we cannot change at will. With that understanding, we have reached consensus with the trade that we will follow strictly the law but we will also consider the actual situation (at discretion) to make sure that it is not going to cause them excessive inconvenience. So we have agreed on how to proceed. In the future, we will be reviewing the details of this ordinance as we gained more experience with the running of the landfill and the recycling plant.
Ends/Friday, January 27, 2006
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