Joint efforts to take forward environmental initiatives
5 May 2019
|
|
The Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence (HKAEE) has been acclaimed as the “Oscar Awards for Environmental Protection in Hong Kong”. Last Monday (29 Thursday), I attended the award presentation ceremony in the capacity of the Acting Chief Executive following the announcement of the latest results of the awards to commend the winning organisations for taking the lead in adopting green management practices in their respective sectors.
This year, a total of 47 organisations won the gold, silver or bronze awards and 161 organisations received the certificates of merit. Winners of the 2018 Hong Kong Green Innovation Awards and organisations certified as Hong Kong Green Organisations were also recognised at the ceremony. The number of organisations participating in the 2018 HKAEE reached a record high of nearly 2 000, representing a significant increase of over five-fold as compared with that recorded ten years ago when the HKAEE was launched. The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) participating in the award this year has greatly increased by nearly 90% as compared to last year.
We are glad to see an increased environmental awareness in SMEs. Accounting for over 98% of the total number of commercial organisations in Hong Kong, SMEs can play an important part in helping Hong Kong become a sustainable green city if they care more about environmental protection. To a certain extent, whether or not SMEs adopt green practices depends on the support for environmental protection and commitment to the community of the people in charge. I hope that more and more SMEs will set an example for the business sector and young people alike by joining the green team.
|
Last week, I officiated at the opening ceremony of Harvest Mill, a food factory set up by Food Angel in Kwun Tong, to promote the reduction of food waste. Established with a donation of $70 million from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Harvest Mill adopts advanced cook-chill technology to produce cook-chill meals with a shelf life of up to 4 days in general.
All along, the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) has been giving support to non-government organisations (NGOs) which collect surplus food for donation. As at December 2018, the ECF approved about $68 million for 37 projects of NGOs. It is anticipated that about 6 900 tonnes of surplus food can be recovered and the number of beneficiaries is around 8.9 million.
|
|
To further reduce food waste, the Government has launched the Food Wise Eateries Scheme to encourage the food and beverage sector to offer portioned meals so that customers may order the right amount of food according to their appetite. I would like to call on more restaurants to support the Scheme.
We attach importance to promoting food waste reduction at source, and food waste recovery and recycling. Situated in Siu Ho Wan of North Lantau, Phase 1 of the Organic Resources Recovery Centre (ORRC) started receiving food waste last year (2018). It has a treatment capacity of 200 tonnes of food waste per day. Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the ORRC, located at Sha Ling of North District and Shek Kong of Yuen Long respectively, each has a daily food waste treatment capacity of 300 tonnes. The two facilities are expected to commence operation in 2022 and 2026 at the earliest.
Innovation and technology development also contributes to promoting environmental protection. We are conducting studies on applying the “food waste/sewage sludge anaerobic co-digestion” technology at sewage treatment works. This, coupled with the commissioning of Phases 1, 2 and 3 of the ORRC, is expected to increase Hong Kong’s overall food waste treatment capacity to around 900 tonnes per day in 2026, accounting for 1/4 of the total food waste generated locally, i.e. all the food waste from commercial and industrial sources and part of the food waste from household sources.
Meanwhile, to strengthen action in tackling the challenges posed by waste plastics, the Government will take the lead in banning plastic straws and poly-foam food containers on premises mainly serving government staff, and requiring operators to avoid using disposable plastic tableware when awarding or renewing contracts.
To reduce the consumption of plastic bottled water, the Government will install additional water dispensers in government venues, such as Government Offices, public open spaces and public service centres in private buildings. The target is to install 500 water dispensers within three years, so that the number of water dispensers for public use in government venues will increase from 2 700 at present to 3 200, representing an increase of around 19%.
The Government has also decided to accord priority to the recovery of plastic beverage containers (PBCs), which account for about 60% of all the waste plastic containers disposed of in Hong Kong, and to proceed with the introduction of a producer responsibility scheme for this type of containers. Meanwhile, the Government is planning to implement a pilot scheme in the latter half of the year to assess the performance and effectiveness of using reverse vending machines to collect waste PBCs and to work out the operational details of transporting the PBCs collected to local recyclers for further treatment.
On waste reduction and recycling, municipal solid waste (MSW) charging is an important initiative. The Government will continue to take forward the bill on MSW charging. Additional funding of around $300 million to $400 million will be provided this year to enhance support for waste reduction and recycling. The amount will be increased to around $800 million to $1 billion per year starting from the financial year when MSW charging is implemented. The amount of this annual funding will be commensurate with the estimated gross revenue to be generated from the charging, so as to achieve the effect of “dedicated-fund-for-dedicated use”.
In regard to environmental protection and energy saving, Hong Kong’s performance is among the best as compared with other economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Hong Kong’s overall energy intensity has decreased by over 28% when compared with that of 2005, and the current level of energy consumption is over 280 000 terajoules per year. This is a remarkable achievement. Our next target is to achieve a reduction of 40% by 2025.
On the energy conservation front, Hong Kong still faces a lot of challenges. The Government will continue to introduce different energy saving measures to create a sustainable environment. We have earmarked $900 million to implement energy saving projects with a view to reaching the target of reducing electricity consumption of government buildings by 5% within five years (up to 2020). The initiative has met with great success, reducing the consumption by 4.9% in the first three years of implementation.
As for low-carbon transformation, the Government has encouraged power companies to replace coal-fired generation units with cleaner energy units, and introduced a Feed-in Tariff in the private sector. Response from various sectors of the community has been positive.
The Government also takes the lead in using renewable energy. In the past two financial years, a total of $1 billion was earmarked for installing these facilities at government venues, and work on a number of facilities have commenced one after another. Another $1 billion will be provided to support more such facilities this year. Besides, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department has launched a scheme to install solar photovoltaic systems for power generation at eligible schools and non-governmental welfare organisations. The first round of application under the scheme closed last month (on 4 April) and over 160 applications were received. The response was overwhelming.
The Government strives for “innovation”, “interaction” and “collaboration” in its governance. Environmental protection is no exception in this respect. I appeal to all sectors of the community to join hands in addressing environmental issues with innovative new thoughts and new technologies in order to develop a liveable and green Hong Kong.
