Last year there were 37 prosecutions under the Waste Disposal Ordinance on illegal import and export of abandoned electronic products that contain harmful substances, out of which 27 were successfully convicted with fines of up to $45,000. An offender was sentenced to a two-month jail term suspended for one year and fined.

Secretary for the Environment, Transport & Works Dr Sarah Liao told lawmakers today there are about 90 storage sites with abandoned electronic products in remote areas of the New Territories.

In the past two years the Environmental Protection Department held 993 inspections at these sites and made 13 prosecutions against illegal operators. All were convicted. The offences mainly involved failure to register as chemical waste producers and to store chemical waste in accordance with legal requirements.

She said the department collected soil samples from both inside and outside 13 storage sites for analysis and the results indicated that the operation of these sites did not pollute the nearby environment. Recent inspections further revealed obvious signs of reduced or slower activities at some of them.

For the time being, she said, the department is examining the feasibility of introducing the Producer Responsibility Scheme as an effective means to reduce waste and promote recovery. Under it, producers, importers, retailers and consumers will share responsibility for the management of end-of-life products.