Letters to the Editors
Letters to the editor of South China Morning Post - Response to reader's letter and Lai See column relating to food waste treatment and recycling facilities
Dear Sir/Madam,
We wish to respond to the letter by Ms Emily Lam ("Concerns over new organic waste plant", March 24) and the opinion expressed in Lai See ("Digesting the Price", March 15).
Ms Lam is right that despite food waste reduction efforts, adequate food waste treatment and recycling facilities are necessary to treat and recycle food waste.
The phase 1 of the organic waste treatment facility (OWTF) at Siu Ho Wan in North Lantau will recycle food waste into biogas for electricity generation and compost The compost produced shall be required to meet the Compost and Soil Conditioner Quality Standards promulgated by the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre (HKORC), which is the compost standard adopted in Hong Kong.
Our pilot composting plant at Kowloon Bay has demonstrated that the compost products are of good quality. The compost quality produced by OWTF phase 1 can meet the HKORC standards.
The average demand of compost in Hong Kong is about 20,000 tonnes per year. 7,000 tonnes of compost each year from the OWTF Phase 1 could be absorbed.
As regards the issue of cost raised in Lai See, the scale, scope, type and site conditions for the food waste treatment plant in Hertfordshire, UK are very different from those of OWTF Phase 1.
The Hertfordshire plant is only a single stage process using anaerobic digestion (AD) to produce electricity only. OWTF Phase 1 is a two-staged process using AD and composting to produce electricity and good quality compost and is designed to operate every day throughout the year.
The Hertfordshire plant is located in an industrial area with an area of approximately 6 hectares. OWTF Phase 1 has to be fit into a very compact site of about 2.2 hectares and meet very challenging engineering conditions and stringent environmental standards.
The cost figure for Hertfordshire plant refers to the construction cost only, excluding the costs of design, contract administration and supervision, technology supply etc. The project estimate for OWTF Phase 1 accounts for the total project cost of the design, construction and commissioning.
The Hertfordshire plant is privately owned and does not carry public education function. The OWTF phase 1 will include public educational facilities.
As indicated in our food waste policy blueprint, we will continue to reduce food waste and develop modern large-scale OWTFs in phases.
Elvis WK Au
Assistant Director of Environmental Protection