"Water is source of life and is a basic human right".  Touching a water spout with hands can help curb spreading of bacteria and diseases.  

(1) Three million people die every year from diarrheal diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, caused by contaminated water;

(2) Polluted water affects the health of 1.2 billion people every year, and contributes to the death of 15 million children under 5 years old;

(3) Vector borne diseases, such as malaria, kill another 1.5 to 2.7 million people per year, with inadequate water management a key cause of such disease.   

Source: UNEP's Global Environment Outlook Report (2000) 

 Take Action Now, please support the campaign of protecting Tai Long Wan, one of the few unspoiled spots for appreciation of the natural beauty in Hong Kong. 

In this page, open discussion on environmental issues in Hong Kong is warmly welcomed.  Feel free to email me at mcv_k@sinagirl.com to express your own experience and points of view.  

The following is some of my personal opinions on the environment in Hong Kong.  Topics include:

(1) Messy Town Planning in Hong Kong (18 December 2000)

(2) Recycling Campaign Cheats the Hong Kong Public (21 December 2000)

Town planning is a crucial component contributing to a real quality environment. Though established with the Planning Department and Town Planning Board, in reality, there's no planning at all in HK.

The land use pattern in the NW New Territories is a good example to illustrate the messy town planning in HK. Next to the NW Tin Shui Wai New Town, it 's Lau Fau Shan, which has long been a tourist centre and a significant oyster and fishing market. Most importantly, it is an area dominated by the presence of three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), namely Tsim Bei Tsui SSSI, Tsim Bei Tsui Egretry, and Inner Deep Bay SSSI. They’re all in close proximity to the Mai Po Nature Reserve. To be line with the concepts of nature conservation and tourism development, it's stated in the Outline Zoning Plan (No. S/YL-LFS/1) that:

"human activities or urban developments are to be discouraged in the area. Instead, educational, scientific research and eco-tourism and compatible uses for the general public are preferred."

However, today in Lau Fau Shan, there're numerous fields of sporadic open storages and other industrial activities such as car repairing workshops and temporary structures scattered in the area. The mosaic of such incompatible activities is obviously resulted from private land use change, which seriously leads to land use conflict, and generates adverse environmental impacts threatening the sensitive vulnerable receivers, both human and nature, in the area:

1. Land Use Conflict

According to the Outline Zoning Plan, Tim Shui Wai is designed mainly for domestic land use (32.39 %) to accommodate over 350,000 people. And the Lau Fau Shan and Tsim Bei Tsui Area is dominantly designated as Conservation Area (49.38 %), followed by the SSSIs (11.51 %). Obviously, the widespread presence of sporadic open storages and other industrial activities today are the visual and functional conflicts with the intended land use layout.

2. Transport problems

Road network and logistics in the Lau Fau Shan area is not designed for supporting a huge fleet of heavy good vehicles everyday. Due to the limited capacity, consequently, traffic congestion is commonly found in the area and along Tin Wan Road connecting to Tin Shui Wai. This is definitely a big puzzle to the residents of both Lau Fau Shan area and Tin Shui Wai New Town.

3. Deteriorating Air Quality and Noise Nuisance

The passage of heavy good vehicles must worsen the air quality of both Lau Fau Shan and Tin Shui Wai to a certain extent. From Tin Shui Wan New Town to Lau Fau Shan along Tin Wan Road, there’re numerous constructions especially in the northern part, such as the West Rail and road-widening projects. When heavy good vehicles pass through, both fugitive dust emission and noise nuisance will be higher, threatening health of the nearby vulnerable sensitive receivers, including school students, outdoor recreational facilities users, and the nearby residents.

4. Water Pollution and Ecological Threat

In the Lau Fau Shan area, there's no comprehensive storm-water or foul sewerage system. Present disposal is by open drains into the Deep Bay areas. Converting abandoned farmlands into the fields for either sporadic storages or other industrial activities can potentially cause water pollution and land contamination. The sewage discharged especially from car repairing workshops can contain high dose of toxic and metallic substances. The Deep Bay areas are the ecologically important wetland habitats providing feeding and roosting places for thousands of migratory birds every year. Being treated as a sink of contaminated water, it could cause an irreversible ecological disaster.

In pursuit of quality life is a long-term vision of HK to become a world-class city. Then, how the government justifies such chaotic and incompatible land use pattern? Is it a kind of unique town-planning feature in HK, characterized by fragment planning with no integration.

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Waste reduction is a top priority issue in Hong Kong. Disposing 19,000 tonnes of solid waste daily at landfills, it's foreseen that three strategic landfills will be full by 2015, instead of lasting to until 2020. To extend the life of landfills, the HKSAR thereby launched the Waste Reduction Plan in 1998, aiming at reducing 40 % of municipal solid wastes 2007. Recycling is one of the key programmes.

It obvious that most housing estates, schools, railway stations and public areas have been equipped with the three-colored recycling bins: blue for paper; brown for plastic; and yellow for aluminum cans. Being a HK resident, I am happy to contribute myself to build a quality living environment. As my living place hasn't yet been equipped with the recycling bins, I bring the separated wastes from my home to a nearby housing estate (On Ting Estate, Tuen Mun) with recycling bins. One day, I bought a pile of paper, and intended to put into the blue bin. But I was stopped by a cleaner, and was asked to put into the general bin instead. She explained the cleaners of the same company are responsible to clear both the general and recycling bins in that housing estate. But the ridiculous point is that there is no separation among the wastes from different bins. Wastes are just mixed in a larger bin for further transportation to landfills. When I heard about this, I was very shock and angry. How come!!!!! The recycling bins are only established to cheat and mislead the public.

I realize that if a housing estate is equipped with recycling bins, it has responsibility to find a recycling contractor to collect the wastes in recycling bins. And normally, the contractor is different from the existing estate cleaning company if the latter doesn't do recycling business. However, the case of Yu Oi Estate obviously reveals the fact that monitoring on the contracting system is insufficient. Most significantly, it shows the insufficient role taken by the government. At present, the role of EPD is only limited to the supply of recycling bins, with no formal participation in the following-up work, like finding outlets for the collected wastes. Consequently, housing estates may face difficulty in handling the waste by finding an appropriate recycling contractor, or have found a bad contractor. It thereby vanishes the whole recycling campaign. Indeed, supply of recycling bins is only a start of a whole waste-recycling programme. If the following steps are not worked out properly, the programme objectives can never be attained. I think it may be one of the reasons why the domestic waste recycling rate is still low.¡@

Personally, I think an integrated recycling strategy is essential. The government should take a more active role to be an initiator, participator and supporter, like the case in Canada, America, and many European countries. An integrated strategy should include the components of public education, legislative support, and market incentives. Regarding the outlet problems, a central processing of waste collection, involving negotiation with contractors, will be much easier to be monitored and controlled.

I hope that the relevant government department, such as EPD and housing authority, can take this matter seriously. It seems that what it is happening now is cheating the public. Though equipped with recycling-bins, the collected wastes are in fact not used for recycling, but are also disposed at landfills. It is really ridiculous. So, what is the recycling bins for? Is it just for a gimmick?

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