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The policy "hand tail" left by Huang Jinxing, the new environment bureau should not delay

2022-06-27T10:55:40.302Z


The Director of the Environment Bureau, Mr Wong Kam-sing, will step down from his post, and Deputy Secretary Xie Zhanhuan will be appointed as the new Director of the Environment and Ecology Bureau on Friday (July 1). Huang Jinxing is one of the few accountability officials who has served in the same policy bureau for ten years, and Xie Zhanhuan is even more


The Director of the Environment Bureau, Mr Wong Kam-sing, will step down from his post, and Deputy Secretary Xie Zhanhuan will be appointed as the new Director of the Environment and Ecology Bureau on Friday (July 1).

Huang Jinxing is one of the few accountability officials who has worked in the same policy bureau for ten years, and Xie Zhanhuan has been in the environmental department since 1985 and has witnessed the changes in environmental protection policies.


Since the handover to the present, the government's key change in environmental policy has been the establishment of the Environment Bureau in 2007 to strengthen the link with policies related to environmental protection, sustainable development and energy, so as to help improve the quality of the environment.

For more than ten years, the Bureau has carried out a large number of actions, especially food conscious waste reduction, and the waste reduction policy is reflected in various measures, many of which were decided and implemented during the ten years when Huang Jinxing was the Secretary of the Environment Bureau, such as plastic bag levy, Four electricity and one brain recycling, green in the district, recycling fund, etc. After a long delay, the waste levy bill was finally passed by the Legislative Council last year and is expected to be implemented in the second half of next year.

In addition, the government has also set a blueprint for the popularization of electric vehicles, clean air, recycling of resources and tackling climate change.

Of course, the most impressive thing about Huang Jinxing is that he often promotes with the "big villain" during his tenure.

"Green Rewards" recycles the point card, and the one-card travels "green in the district" in Hong Kong.

(Huang Jinxing's blog)

The blueprint is multi-dimensional but the environmental protection goal has been delayed

The government has adopted many environmental protection measures, blueprints, and creative ideas.

In 2013, the government released the "Hong Kong Resource Recycling Blueprint 2013-2022". It was expected that the daily per capita disposal of municipal solid waste this year would be 0.8 kilograms, and the waste recycling rate would reach 55%, but the actual figure in 2020 was 1.44 kilograms. The rate is only 28%, which is a major deficiency in environmental protection policies.

Last year, the government updated the blueprint and postponed the waste reduction target to 2035 in one fell swoop, acknowledging that it is difficult to recover the old target in the short term.

When it comes to numbers, it is still a little far off. When it comes to the waste paper siege in 2017, I believe that citizens will evoke memories.

What is even more ironic is that there are recycling facilities but they are not used properly. In 2020, Hong Kong produced more than 3,200 metric tons of food waste per day, but the current "Organic Recycling Center" for food waste processing has slowed down from April last year to January this year. At that time, the average daily processing was still only 150 metric tons, which was still below the design upper limit of 200 metric tons.

In 2020, the daily per capita disposal amount is 1.44 kilograms, and the overall recovery rate is only 28%, which is worse than the return year.

(file picture)

The decline in recycling rate is largely due to the tightening of waste import requirements in the Mainland, coupled with high local logistics costs, low recycling prices for some products, and the epidemic that once hit demand, making the local recycling industry unprofitable, but the recycling industry is excessive Relying on exports to deal with waste without improving the quality of recycling, when the importing place refuses to accept it, the local is at a loss.

In recent years, the government has started by subsidizing waste recycling, purchasing machinery and transportation costs to reduce the expenses of the recycling industry.

If the Environment Bureau settled the disputes and implemented the garbage levy earlier, the situation of waste siege would not be so serious.

Now we have to wait until next year to implement and change the habits of citizens and businesses to dispose of waste before waste recycling can pick up.

Another major environmental policy revolves around electricity.

In this regard, the government has made little changes in the return. The two power companies still monopolize the electricity market. The government has ruled out opening up all aspects of the power market. The current Environment Bureau only lowered the allowable profit rate of the two power companies to 8%.

Electricity policy is important, not only because society demands stable supply and affordable prices, but also because it cooperates with cutting carbon emissions, reducing the impact of climate change and air pollution.

At present, about 60% of Hong Kong's greenhouse gas emissions come from power generation. However, the "Hong Kong Climate Action Blueprint 2050" launched last year only stipulated that renewable energy should account for 15% of electricity production by 2050, which is too conservative.

This year, the Environment Bureau and the two power companies launched the on-grid tariff, which has attracted enterprises and the private sector to install solar panels to produce power.

In 2017, Hong Kong was surrounded by waste paper.

(File photo / Photo by Liang Pengwei)

Although the new government's environmental protection platform lacks


practical work, the work is already heavy

It is undeniable that since the reunification, the society's awareness of environmental protection has been strengthened, and even the business sector has actively added waste reduction and energy saving elements to its business. The government's promotion work is worthy of recognition, but the government's efforts to promote environmental protection policies are ten times more than the current one. Back to the present lag.

From this point of view, Huang Jinxing can be said to have started the environmental protection policy and is willing to deal with the problem with the industry, but the efforts are not thorough enough, and the policy has not become a government achievement.

Also because the achievements are yet to be achieved, even if the new government has not mentioned any major environmental protection plans, it is already arduous to perform the work of the current government.

Xie Zhanhuan, who took over, came from a professional grade in the government and has been working in the environmental protection department.

However, we hope that the new Secretary will dare to take responsibility and fulfill the goals of the government's various environmental protection policies, without delaying one term.

Furthermore, the new government emphasizes the integration into the construction of the Greater Bay Area, and the new Secretary just happens to lead Hong Kong to develop the environmental protection industry, such as advocating the use of the geographical cooperation in the Bay Area to produce wind power and photovoltaics, striving for a constant quota for cities in the Greater Bay Area to import high-quality waste from Hong Kong, and at the same time. Encourage enterprises to set up factories in the Greater Bay Area to produce recycled products and sell them to markets in the Bay Area.

In order to make local people live and work in peace and contentment, and then attract foreign talents to take root, the government must not only improve the economy and people's livelihood, but also continuously improve the environment and establish a reputation as a livable city. The new environment and ecology bureau has a long way to go.

The ecological conservation policy in the north should be implemented, and there must be a determination to say goodbye to disposable plastic tableware.

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-06-27

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