In the interest of safety for all concerned, the Police have taken necessary and appropriate action during the transportation of dioxin-containing residues from To Kau Wan on Lantau to the Tsing Yi Chemical Waste Treatment Centre for trial incineration.

The residues were delivered from To Kau Wan to the chemical waste treatment centre early this morning following a designated route approved by the Director of Environmental Protection under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance.

During the operation, the Police cleared 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.

Stringent measures in place

Throughout the exercise, the most stringent precautionary measures were put in place:

* The residues were in a solid form with only trace quantity of dioxins, and they were non-volatile, insoluble in water, non-inflamable and kept in drums that comply with the United Nations standard.

* A route was carefully chosen away from residential areas.

* Transportation was undertaken after midnight subject to a safe speed limit, with escort vehicles from the contractor and Police in front and behind.

* An emergency response centre was activated to monitor the entire transportation process and to deal with contingencies.

* A licensed chemical waste collector was used in full compliance with provisions in the Waste Disposal Ordinance.

High transparency maintained

The Kwai Tsing District Council and the Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs had been informed of arrangements.

High transparency in the incineration process will be maintained and district councilors will be updated on the progress including air monitoring results from time to time. These updates will also be available at the Civil Engineering & Development Department website.

A trial incineration exercise will be carried out to ascertain the efficiency of control measures at the chemical waste treatment centre. In accordance with the conditions imposed by the Environmental Permit, the test report will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Department for approval.

Independent expert to assess operation

An independent expert assessor, Professor Jonathan Wong of Baptist University, has been invited to oversee and verify the effectiveness of the incineration process by collecting air samples during the incineration for analysis against a set of stringent alert indicators.

The Director of Environmental Protection 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.

Incineration has been widely recognised as the safest and most effective method to dispose of dioxin.

Disposal method in line with international practices

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 Director of Environmental Protection, following extensive public consultation in early 2002.

With state-of-the-art technologies and air pollution control devices, the chemical waste treatment centre is fully equipped to decompose dioxin into harmless carbon dioxide and water vapour at a high destruction efficiency of 99.9999%.

It can also meet the most stringent international standard for dioxin emissions, that is, less than 0.1 nanogramme per cubic metre, the same as that for the US, European Union and Japan. Flue gas emitted from the chimney will be subject to vigorous monitoring throughout the incineration process.