Th e dispute over the Tseung Kwan O landfi ll expansion is just the tip of an immense iceberg. Hong Kong has been heavily reliant on landfi lls to dispose of the solid waste from the entire city. All three of the city's landfi lls will reach capacity over the next decade.

Th e total amount of waste is still growing. Between 2005 and 2009, the amount of solid waste that were generated annually by people in Hong Kong grew by 7.3 percent to 6.45 million tons, government statistics show. Th at is why the government claimed the expansion of the three landfi lls is "necessary".

In view of this, the government proposed the expansion of all three landfi lls as early as 2003. Plans called for increasing the area of the Tseung Kwan O landfi ll by 20 percent, doubling the Ta Kwu Ling landfi ll and tripling the Tuen Mun Nim Wan landfi ll.

"All three expansion plans have reached the fi nal stage, just one step away, to go through the Legislative Council for funding approval," said Michelle Au Wing-tsz, a senior environmental aff airs offi cer of Friends of the Earth.

She noted that the Lohas Park residents�� fi erce struggle alerted the community to the increasingly serious solid waste problem.

"While the residents in the countryside oppose the other two landfi lls, we can put it this way, they are not middle class and their voices are not loud enough," Au said.

Th e environmental organization charges the government is actually going to build more landfi ll sites in the name of expansion, so as to cover up the fact that it has been relying on the expensive end-of-the-pipe solution for the solid waste issue, such as landfi ll and Incineration.

On the contrary, in most developed countries, the philosophy of waste management is to apply "waste-avoidance measures" first, "recycling" second. "incineration" and "landfi ll" last.

"It has been only one way to solve the waste problem, to avoid waste production at the source,�� said Edwin Lau Che-feng, director of Friends of the Earth. Th e organization urges the government to implement its commitments to volume-based waste disposal charges and a producer responsibility scheme.

"Even if legislators approve the controversial Tseung Kwan O landfi ll extension, it will not mean an end to the story. I bet that, in a couple of years, the government will ask to borrow another slice of our beautiful country park for our rubbish. Our parks may become the ultimate solution for the city��s solid waste," said Lau.

Landfills are used to dispose of about half of the total waste produced in Hong Kong. Th at is much higher than the rates in other Asian cities, where only 3 percent to 16 percent of solid waste is disposed in landfi lls. "If the government can do better, such as in recycling and incineration, then there won't be so much to dispose to the landfi lls, and their lifespan will be longer'" Fong added.

Guo Jiaxue

(HK Edition 10/22/2010 page12)