Hong Kong Landfill Problem
Turn landfill problem into history
With the wasteful lifestyle of Hong Kong citizens, the 4 major landfills in Hong Kong are going to be saturated. From the government’s words, these landfills will be fully saturated before late 2010s. The situation is getting worse in these years, as people have no improvement in their consumption style. They are not aware of their responsibility on reducing waste. Also, people cannot develop the routine on recycling, and send much unnecessary rubbish to the landfill. With the rare land resources in Hong Kong, we cannot offer any more land to extend or construct a new landfill. If we still do nothing and continue the trend, the problem on waste treatment will cause an enormous amount of cost for the public to bear, and many of our valuable resources will be wasted. The society must start to plan for the solution and stop the landfill saturation problem.
The government has suggested solving the problem by incineration. Incineration is a waste treatment which involves burning of organic material in rubbish. In the 11 November 2010, the Chief Executive Mr Donald Tsang invited an incineration plant in Tokyo. With the advanced technology from Japan, the plant can reduce the size of waste by 90%, which can save a lot of space for the landfill. Many people may think incineration can cause environment problems as the pollutants emitted in the combustion process are toxic and cause greenhouse effect. However, the plant invited installed special exhaust gas treatment system like filters and catalytic reactor. The effect to the environment is minimized to a harmless level. According to “CE visits incineration plant in Tokyo” (2010), Mr Tsang was satisfied and pointed out that incineration was environmental friendly, effective and sustainable (¶ 9).
On the other hand, some environmental protection organizations propose to implement the “Pay-as-you-throw” system (PAYT), with Taipei as a successful role model for Hong Kong to follow.
With the wasteful lifestyle of Hong Kong citizens, the 4 major landfills in Hong Kong are going to be saturated. From the government’s words, these landfills will be fully saturated before late 2010s. The situation is getting worse in these years, as people have no improvement in their consumption style. They are not aware of their responsibility on reducing waste. Also, people cannot develop the routine on recycling, and send much unnecessary rubbish to the landfill. With the rare land resources in Hong Kong, we cannot offer any more land to extend or construct a new landfill. If we still do nothing and continue the trend, the problem on waste treatment will cause an enormous amount of cost for the public to bear, and many of our valuable resources will be wasted. The society must start to plan for the solution and stop the landfill saturation problem.
The government has suggested solving the problem by incineration. Incineration is a waste treatment which involves burning of organic material in rubbish. In the 11 November 2010, the Chief Executive Mr Donald Tsang invited an incineration plant in Tokyo. With the advanced technology from Japan, the plant can reduce the size of waste by 90%, which can save a lot of space for the landfill. Many people may think incineration can cause environment problems as the pollutants emitted in the combustion process are toxic and cause greenhouse effect. However, the plant invited installed special exhaust gas treatment system like filters and catalytic reactor. The effect to the environment is minimized to a harmless level. According to “CE visits incineration plant in Tokyo” (2010), Mr Tsang was satisfied and pointed out that incineration was environmental friendly, effective and sustainable (¶ 9).
On the other hand, some environmental protection organizations propose to implement the “Pay-as-you-throw” system (PAYT), with Taipei as a successful role model for Hong Kong to follow.