Last Update: 01.12.2006

German-Chinese Cooperation continues to be successful

Talks concentrate on developing strategies for waste avoidance and recycling

Discussions to strengthen German-Chinese cooperation in the waste management sector were successfully continued in Hong Kong on 7 and 8 December 2006.
The talks, chaired by the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Environment Ministry, Astrid Klug, concentrated on the development of an ecologically sustainable waste management system in Hong Kong. The German delegation consisted of experts from industry, science and administration.

On a previous visit of high-ranking environmental sector officials from Hong Kong to the Federal Environment Ministry in Germany in March 2006, the Chinese delegation expressed the wish that Germany should assume an advisory role in the development and implementation of a modern waste management system.

Discussions among experts on waste prevention and recycling strategies:

On the recent visit discussions took place with the Environment Minister of Hong Kong, Dr Sarah Liao, and experts from the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department as well as with the chairperson of the Environment Committee of Hong Kong’s Parliament, Audrey Eu, and other members of the Environment Committee. Subsequent talks between German and Chinese experts from the waste management sector which took place on the invitation of the German Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong were well received by the participating companies and as a positive result the German Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong will look into organising a German fair on environmental and waste management technology in Hong Kong in 2007.

The experts took the present state of waste management in Germany as a starting point for their discussions on the development of a need-oriented waste management and closed substance cycle concept for Hong Kong. A basic requirement to achieve this is the setting up of a corresponding legal framework and the establishment of a management system which makes sense both ecologically and economically. It became clear that the administration of Hong Kong had a considerable consulting requirement as regards the reorganisation of its planned waste management system, the development of the necessary legal provisions and the introduction of modern environmental technologies.
Well prepared information should be disseminated to raise an awareness in the population of the objective and involve everyone in planned activities, thus improving public acceptance of the waste management measures.

The high standards reached in the field of closed substance cycles developed in Germany over the past decades is the objective Hong Kong is also striving for. There was general agreement that modern waste policies should in particular be geared towards waste prevention and the closing of substance cycles. Waste which cannot be avoided should undergo environmentally sound recycling accompanied, as a matter of priority, by the recovery of energy.

Support by the Federal Environment Ministry and German Experts:

State Secretary Astrid Klug offered to provide support and practical advice to the administration of Hong Kong and the Environment Committee of Parliament in the reorganisation of their waste management and closed substance cycle scheme. She stressed that Germany is trying to achieve the highest possible recycling rate of domestic waste in accordance with the waste management objectives set by the Federal Environment Ministry. Process and plant technology for the treatment of residual waste required to achieve this end will be brought into line with the requirements or further developed. The participating German experts recommended that the consulting activities could be based on existing disposal models of a German City State with similar disposal structures. Use should also be made of existing experience as for example the experience gained by the Institute for Applied Material Flow Management of the economic aspects of waste management during its 10 years of consultancy in China. A German industrial representative pointed to the possibility of integrating energy recovery from waste into the energy concept of Hong Kong’s waste management utilities and expressed his interest in implementing a CDM project in this field in Hong Kong.

Some concrete proposals were already drawn up as a result of the expert meeting in Hong Kong and they were sent to the Environment Minister and the Chairperson of the Environment Committee for consideration. Furthermore State Secretary Astrid Klug offered to continue the talks in Germany.

Planning objectives up to 2014:

The government of the Special Administrative Region Hong Kong is faced with a special challenge in the field of waste management: despite the fact that 43% of the waste is recycled it is foreseeable that the 3 existing landfills in Hong Kong will have reached their final capacity in approximately 5 to 9 years. Waste prevention, recycling and the development of alternatives to landfilling will therefore be the environmental policy priorities in this finance and trade hub of the Far East with its 7 million inhabitants.

Hong Kong will concentrate in particular on the following three planning objectives up to 2014:

• to reduce domestic waste volumes by 1% per year
• to increase the recycling rate (as share in total waste volumes) to 50%
• to reduce the share of total waste landfilled for final disposal on public landfills to below 25%.

Thermal waste treatment plants will be built for the disposal of the residual waste.

At present a 20 hectare "Eco-Park" is being built in Hong Kong. By 2009 this technology park will accommodate technology enterprises and various plants as for example one for biological and thermal waste treatment and one for mechanical sorting of waste. This will make an extensive material and energy recovery possible.

Further information at:

• Press release of 8 December 2006 "German experts support Hong Kongin waste management"

Back to Page Detailview