|
TOUR
LOGBOOK
24 March 2000 - Rainbow Warrior ends waste barge blockade after 24 hours
About
40 Greenpeace activists and volunteers have carried out a 24-hour
sit in on top of a waste barge to protest against the government’s
unsustainable waste management policy.The action has successfully
blocked the operation of Tsing Chau waste container vessel for
a day.
The start of the action.
|
 |
Throughout
the demonstration, officials from the Environment and Food Bureau of
Hong Kong have rejected requests from Greenpeace to discuss government
proposed incinerator plans. But the Environmental Protection Department
later issued a statement saying the waste-to-energy incineration plan
is only at its initial stage and that “studies are being conducted and
the public will be consulted”.
 |
“The
way they cold shouldered us and the local residents of Lung Kwu
Tan and Lamma Island certainly didn’t appear to be welcoming public
views or encouraging open discussions,” said Clement Lam, Greenpeace
China campaigner. |
The
two communities are among four sites selected by the government to build
two mega waste incinerators to deal with 6,000 tonnes of municipal waste
per day. Hong Kong produces 16,000 tonnes of municipal waste per day
according to 1997 data.
Greenpeace also strongly disagreed with the government’s claim that
it is “managing waste through a programme of prevention, reduction,
separation and recycling…”
“While a total of HK$7.6 billion has been estimated for the building
of two mega incinerators, the money set aside for waste recovery is
10 times less than incineration, and the total investment for composting
is 170 times less than that for incineration. With such big investment
discrepancies in the various components of its waste programme the government
has given sustainable options zero chance,” said Lam.
Incinerators do not destroy waste rather they transform potential recyclable
or reusable materials into hazardous waste. Typically, every three tonnes
of waste incinerated equals to one tonne of toxic ash contaminated with
dioxin and heavy metals. Greenpeace demands the government to abandon
its proposed waste burning policy and eliminate all existing and future
dioxin-generating sources.
Dioxin, which is a type of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), is
an extremely toxic substance that affects the health of both humans
and animals even at low doses. A United Nations-sponsored round of negotiations
is currently meeting in Germany to iron out a global
treaty to phase out POPs. The elimination of dioxins is one of the
key issues discussed at the meetings which will end tomorrow (25 March).
“The fact that more than 100 countries are looking at ways to get rid
of POPs once and for all should serve as a wake up call to the Hong
Kong government that ‘burn and bury’ is a dead end while sustainable
waste management is the only future,” said Lam.
Greenpeace is also campaigning to stop the government from modifying
the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre in Tsing Yi
to burn medical waste. Medical and municipal waste incineration are
the top sources of dioxin, as well as mercury and other toxic substances.
“It is terribly misleading for the government to say that Hong Kong’s
medical waste can only be treated safely by incineration. There are
other non-burn alternative technologies such as autoclave and microwave
sterilisation which are safer, cheaper and less polluting,” added Lam.
More info:
Background briefing
paper
Daily
updates from the INC4
Previous
tour updates from the logbook
|
