Bidding for kitchen waste treatment plant next year
Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) Director Raymond Tam Vai Man said on Thursday that the government will ban the use of single-use plastics in phases, including a ban on the import of foam food containers from next year.
Tam made the remarks during a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle where senior officials replied to oral interpellation from lawmakers on various topics.
Meanwhile, Tam also said that the government aimed to invite bids for the construction of a kitchen waste processing plant in Cotai next year.
Tam pointed out that kitchen waste currently accounts for 40 per cent of the city’s domestic refuse daily, and the percentage of kitchen waste in relation to all domestic refuse generated daily in commercial premises is even higher than in residential buildings. Tam said that the government began in 2017 to plan to build a central kitchen waste processing plant next to the city’s only construction waste landfill in east Cotai.
Tam said that the design and the environmental assessment of the planned kitchen waste plant have almost been completed. Tam said that the government expected the first phase of the kitchen waste plant to be able to process 200 tonnes of kitchen waste daily. Tam also said that a grease treatment plant will be built next to the kitchen waste processing plant.
Too much sea sludge: Rosário
Meanwhile, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário said during Thursday’s plenum that the amount of sea sludge generated in the city and dumped in the construction waste landfill daily has significantly increased due to the ongoing Cotai hospital complex project – officially known as Cotai Health Complex – and various private projects. Rosário said that some amount of sea sludge in the landfill slid towards the airport, which he characterised as a “worrying” situation.
Rosário said that therefore the government had decided to suspend the disposal of sea sludge for one week until it completes processing the newly accumulated sea sludge there.
The current landfill for construction waste, the city’s only one, has been in operation since 2006. The dump at the east end of Cotai was already overflowing a few years ago, and government officials have warned that the landfill is facing the risk of collapsing. The government launched a project to expand the capacity of the landfill – which is located near the airport and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) depot – last year.
Facility to sort construction waste
Tam said that the government will build a facility on the construction waste landfill to be used for sorting construction waste. Tam pointed out that on average 1,200 tonnes of construction waste is dumped in the landfill daily, adding that the government expects the future facility to sort out 300 tonnes of flammable construction waste per day, which will then transported to the city’s incinerator in Pac On, with the aim of relieving the pressure on the landfill.
Tam also pointed out that the government has set up a facility on the construction waste landfill for refurbishing discarded furniture. Tam said that workers will refurbish the pieces of old furniture that are still in good condition and deliver them to charity associations and the Environmental Protection Bureau to be used again. Tam also said that his bureau would ask other government entities in the future to consider using the refurbished furniture from the facility.
No more residential project in northern district: Rosário
Meanwhile, Rosário also said during Thursday’s plenum that the government does not intend to approve any new residential projects in the peninsula’s northern district (known in Cantonese as “bak keoi”) as the population density there already stands at 160,000 people per square kilometre adding that the government has not approved any new residential projects in the area in recent years.
Meanwhile, Rosário also apologised for the incident in which the LRT operator only announced an incident 12 hours after its occurrence early this month, adding that he himself was dissatisfied with the operator’s late announcement.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © DSPA
