The Government today (November 25) successfully completed the transportation of dioxin-containing residues from To Kau Wan to the Tsing Yi Chemical Waste Treatment Centre (CWTC) for trial incineration.
"The residues were delivered from To Kau Wan in Lantau to CWTC early this morning following a designated route approved by the Director of Environmental Protection (DEP) under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO)," a spokesman for the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) said.
During the operation, the Police had taken necessary and appropriate action to clear some protesters who blocked the convoy on Tsing Yi Road West in the interest of safety for all concerned, including the protesters and other road users," the spokesman said.
The spokesman also stressed that the most stringent precautionary measures were put in place throughout this exercise:
(a) The residues were in solid form with only trace quantity of dioxins, non-volatile, insoluble in water, non-inflamable and were kept in drums that comply with the United Nations standard.
(b) A carefully chosen route away from residential areas.
(c) Transportation was undertaken after midnight subject to a safe speed limit, with escort vehicles from contractor and police in front and rear.
(d) Activation of an emergency response centre to monitor the entire transportation process and to deal with contingencies.
(e) Use of a licensed chemical waste collector in full compliance with provisions in the Waste Disposal Ordinance.
The spokesman said that Kwai Tsing District Council (KTDC) and the Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs had been informed of arrangements for the transportation and incineration process.
As regards the treatment method, the spokesman said that incineration had been widely recognised as the safest and most effective method to dispose of dioxin.
He said both incineration and non-incineration technologies were examined in the Environmental Impact Assessment. The former was adopted as the technology with proven reliability to treat dioxin-containing residues in line with international practices.
"Incineration was recommended in the relevant Environmental Impact Assessment Report, endorsed by the Advisory Council on the Environment and approved by the DEP under the EIAO, following extensive public consultation in early 2002," he said.
With state-of-the-art technologies and air pollution control devices, CWTC is fully equipped to decompose dioxin into harmless carbon dioxide and water vapour at a very high destruction efficiency of 99.9999%. It can also meet the most stringent international standard for dioxin emissions (i.e. less than 0.1 nanogramme per cubic metre), same as that for the United States, European Union and Japan. Flue gas emitted from the chimney will be subject to vigorous monitoring throughout the incineration process.
A trial incineration exercise will be carried out to ascertain the efficiency of control measures at CWTC. In accordance with the conditions imposed by the Environmental Permit, the test report will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) for approval.
"An independent expert assessor, Prof. Jonathan W.C. Wong of Hong Kong Baptist University, has been invited to oversee and verify effectiveness of the incineration process by collecting air samples during incineration of residues for analysis against a set of stringent alert indicators," the spokesman said.
"The DEP will grant approval to proceed with the incineration of all remaining residues only if the trial incineration demonstrates that it complies with all stipulated requirements," the spokesman stressed.
"We will maintain high transparency in the incineration process and will update KTDC on progress including air monitoring results from time to time. These updates could also be viewed in the website of CEDD " he said.
Ends/Thursday, November 25, 2004
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