Polluter pays: Secretary for the Environment, Transport & Works Dr Sarah Liao says the Government is examining ways of introducing charging for solid waste.

Measures to reduce the amount of municipal solid waste and increase its recovery rate have been proposed. These include introducing charges for solid waste and mandatory producer responsibility schemes.

The plan, known as "A Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste (2005-2014)", will be discussed in the Legislative Council next week and proposes a comprehensive strategy for the management of municipal solid waste in Hong Kong for next 10 years.

Secretary for the Environment, Transport & Works Dr Sarah Liao said projections predict that landfill capacity will be exhausted in the next six to 10 years.

Using landfills as the only means of disposal of solid waste is not sustainable, she said, adding something has to be done now to extend their life expectancy.

Dr Liao said the scheme aims at reducing and recycling waste so unwanted things will become resources instead.

Targets, initiatives

Targets are:

* to reduce the amount of municipal solid waste by 1% per annum up to 2014;

* to increase the overall recovery rate to 45% by 2009 and 50% by 2014; and,

* to reduce total waste disposed of in landfills to less than 25% by 2014.

Major initiatives proposed are to:

* expedite the roll-out of territory-wide waste recovery programmes to increase the amount of local recyclables;

* introduce mandatory producer responsibility schemes through new legislation upon completion of detailed studies on product-specific measures;

* examine ways of introducing charging for municipal solid waste;

* continue to encourage waste recycling;

* continue to develop the EcoPark exclusively for the environmental industry; and,

* get all Government departments to adopt a green procurement policy as far as practicable.