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TOUR
LOGBOOK
23 March 2000 - GREENPEACE BLOCKS WASTE BARGE AND DEMANDS HONG KONG
GOVERNMENT REJECT POLLUTING INCINERATION.
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Greenpeace
today escalated its protest against the Hong Kong government’s
"dioxin generating" waste management policy by occupying a waste
barge and hanging a banner from the top of its crane to physically
block its operation.
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The
action, involving dozens of Greenpeace activists from at least ten countries
began at 1pm Hong Kong time when Greenpeace’s flagship, the Rainbow
Warrior, docked alongside the Tsing Chau waste barge in Sulphur Channel
at the western tip of Hong Kong Island, to deliver protesters onto its
deck. Two Greenpeace climbers then unfurled a banner reading "Ban the
Burn" from the crane while another banner reading "Stop POPs, Recycle
Now" was hung on the side of the Rainbow Warrior. Both messages echoed
the short-sightedness of the government’s current waste management policy,
which is both polluting and wasteful.
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Today’s
action followed Monday’s protest at Tsing
Yi Chemical Waste Treatment Centre, where the Hong Kong government
is planning to utilise its spare incineration capacity to burn medical
waste. Greenpeace is against medical and municipal waste incineration
as they are the top sources of dioxin, as well as mercury and other
toxic substances. |
The
elimination of dioxins is one of the key issues currently being negotiated
at a United Nations-sponsored meeting in Bonn, Germany. The fourth
Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC4) is to negotiate a
global treaty to eliminate persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which
are very resistant to natural breakdown and can accumulate in the fatty
tissues of animals and humans as well as in many of our food stuffs.
Many are highly toxic and several have been found to disrupt the hormone
systems of humans and wildlife. The majority of the developing countries
and the European Union support the elimination of dioxin, while a small
group, led by the United States, are determined to block dioxin elimination.
"We appeal to China to support developing countries in their demands
for dioxin elimination. This is imperative if we are to protect the
health of life on the planet", said Clement Lam, Greenpeace China campaigner.
Dioxin, which is a type of POP, is an extremely toxic substance that
produces a variety of adverse effects in humans and animals even at
extremely low doses. Dioxins are by-products of industrial manufacturing
processes, such as chlorine- bleached paper and PVC plastics and combustion
processes, such as incineration.
"Incinerators do not destroy waste rather they transform potential recyclable
or re-useable materials into hazardous waste. Typically, every three
tonnes of waste incinerated equates to one tonne of toxic ash contaminated
with dioxin and heavy metals. We want the government to abandon its
proposed waste burning policy and reallocate the HK$7 billion earmarked
for incineration to develop a sustainable waste management strategy,"
said Clement Lam.
A group of Lung Kwu Tan residents were onboard the Rainbow Warrior throughout
the protest to bear witness. Lung Kwu Tan is one of four proposed sites
where the government plans to build two mega waste incinerators to tackle
6000 tonnes of municipal waste per day, a portion of Hong Kong’s daily
volume.
"We want the government to give us a time line as to when an assessment
of dioxins in humans will be completed. We also demand that all data
on POPs in food be made accessible to the public as soon as they become
available," added Lam. Following Monday’s action, the government had
committed to undertaking a dioxin test on humans and agreed to review
alternative non-incineration technologies for medical waste. But it
had refused to scrap its plan to modify the Chemical Waste Treatment
Centre to burn medical waste.
"The world has come together in Bonn this week to find ways to eliminate
POPs. It’s time for our Hong Kong government to come to its senses and
wake up to the fact that 'burn and bury' is not a solution. The government
should ban the burn and invest heavily in sustainable options now,"
said Lam.
More info:
Background briefing
paper
Daily
updates from the INC4
24
March - The end of the blockade
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