Maintaining a clean and hygienic living environment for the people of Hong Kong is another key responsibility of the Department. The range of services covers street cleansing, waste collection, the provision of toilets, public markets, cemeteries, crematoria and columbaria, and hawker management.
Street Cleansing
A departmental workforce of about 3,600 is deployed in the daily task of sweeping and washing streets, collecting waste and managing public toilets, public bathhouses and waste collection points.
Street sweeping is an essential part of keeping the city clean and sweepers can be seen working from daybreak until late in the evening. The frequency depends on the needs of a particular area, and ranges from once a day to eight times a day around the clock. In the main commercial and tourist areas, streets are swept about four to eight times a day.
A series of new cleansing initiatives addressing district concerns has been implemented since November 2001, which includes provision of static street cleaners at busy spots for the instantaneous removal of litter, the removal of illegal bills or posters, and roving cleansing teams for clearing hygiene black spots. Since the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in early 2003, there has been growing awareness in the community of the need to keep a clean and healthy environment. In support of the Team Clean report on measures to improve environmental hygiene in Hong Kong, the Department provided improved cleansing and cleansing-related services in the following areas:
(a) intensified cleansing and washing of public places and environmental black spots;
(b) cleansing and washing of private lanes, common parts of old tenement buildings; and undertaking minor repair works and lime-washing at these sites;
(c) enhanced rodent and mosquito control operations; and
(d) upgraded cleansing of markets, cooked food centres, hawker sites and removal of bagged refuse on streets.
In addition to manual sweeping, contractors' mechanical sweepers are used to cleanse highways, flyovers, central dividers and other high-use traffic areas. Special cleansing squads are deployed on a need basis to clean hygiene black spots. The squads are provided with lorries, while pick-up vans are involved in major operations to remove large abandoned articles and bulky items that cannot be handled by street sweepers. The squads also undertake urgent clearing operations in the event of traffic accidents or natural disasters.
Regular washing services are required to keep pavements, service lanes, hawker concentrated areas, refuse collection points and black spots clean. Over 90 street washing teams are deployed by the Department's in-house staff and cleansing contractors to provide services during the day and in the evening to problem areas and black spots at least twice weekly; and to busy areas at least once a week, and to other areas on a need basis. For trunk roads with heavy traffic where normal street washing is not practicable, street flushing during non-busy hours is provided.
Roadside gullies are generally cleared manually every two weeks. Larvicidal oil is applied weekly as a precaution against mosquito breeding. Gully traps on highways and flyovers are cleared once every six weeks with specialised mechanical equipment (eight in-house and seven from contractors). The equipment is normally deployed after midnight when traffic is light.
The Department has outsourced about 63% of its street cleansing services. A monitoring and sanction mechanism is in place to ensure contractors deliver satisfactory service.
Refuse Collection
Litter containers are conveniently located at almost every bus stop, major road junction, ferry concourse and public transport interchange in Hong Kong. They are emptied at a frequency commensurate with their usage, ranging from four to eight times a day. Altogether, there are some 18,000 litter containers, 470 dog latrines and 792 dog excreta collection bins for the convenience of dog owners.
The emptying frequency of litter containers is displayed to encourage the public to monitor the performance of cleansing staff provided by the Department and contractors. A hotline number 2868 0000, is also printed on all new litter containers for public enquiries and complaints.
There are 2,937 Refuse Collection Points (RCPs) in Hong Kong. They include 158 permanent off-street RCPs, which generally operate from 7am to 3.30 pm, and up to 11.30 pm in busy areas, 124 temporary RCPs, 813 village-type RCPs, and 1,842 bin sites. The RCPs are of different designs according to the actual need and site availability. They are used for temporary storage of street waste and household waste pending collection. The Department improves the existing waste collection services whenever circumstances permit to minimise any possible environmental nuisance to nearby residents.
Household waste is collected at least once daily from RCPs by refuse collection teams provided by both the in-house staff and waste collection contractors. About 5,516 tonnes of household waste are collected daily - 1,181 tonnes from Hong Kong Island, 1,712 tonnes from Kowloon and 2,623 tonnes from the New Territories and outlying islands. Waste is then delivered for disposal to refuse transfer stations or landfills managed by the Environmental Protection Department.
The FEHD has outsourced about 52% of its waste collection services. As with the outsourced street cleansing services, the Department has put in place a monitoring and sanction mechanism to ensure the waste collection contractors deliver satisfactory service.
Waste Reduction
In support of the Government's Waste Reduction Framework Plan 1998-2007, the Department has provided collection services to 1,932 recyclable collection points in public places, schools, clinics, and government venues to recover waste paper, aluminium cans and plastic bottles.
During the year, the average weight of recyclable materials collected each month was 45,777 kilograms of waste paper, 1,689 kilograms of aluminium cans and 13,144 kilograms of plastic bottles.
The Department is now exploring the feasibility of using retread tyres for its vehicle fleet in response to the Government's initiative on waste reduction and environmental protection. The plan aims to reduce the number of used tyres and the maintenance costs of vehicles and to achieve further waste reduction. In the initial stage, only refuse collection vehicles have been selected for trial. If successful, the arrangement will be extended to other vehicles.
Public Toilets and Aqua Privies
Public toilets are primarily provided at ferry concourses, bus termini, picnic areas, tourist spots and other busy areas. Altogether, 318 public toilets are managed by the Department - 93 on Hong Kong Island, 61 in Kowloon, and 164 in the New Territories and on outlying islands. In addition, there are 540 aqua privies in the New Territories and on outlying islands.
The Department has embarked on a refurbishment programme to upgrade old public toilets. During the year, facilities at 18 public toilets and aqua privies were improved under the scheme. The Department remains committed to seeing further improvements in hygiene, safety and comfort. Many public toilets managed by the FEHD have been installed with new features, such as automatic infrared sensor water taps, hand dryers, urinal bowls and hand basins at children's height, baby changing counters, and separate racks inside toilets to make them less wet and slippery. Air fresheners and free toilet paper are also provided in all public toilets to create a comfortable and convenient environment for users. To ensure public toilets are kept clean at all times, the Department has stationed attendants at toilets with high usage rates to provide cleansing services when necessary.
In pursuing government policy of incorporating gender mainstreaming in project design, to ensure the needs and perspectives of both genders are considered, the Department has adjusted the planning ratio for male and female toilet compartments from 1.5 to two female toilet compartments for every male compartment.
For aqua privies in remote areas, the Department has launched a two stage programme to convert 100 aqua privies at popular sight-seeing spots or those with higher usage rates into flushing toilets over three years. The programme will be completed by the end of 2007.
In a public opinion survey conducted in April and May, about 76% of the 4,000 respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the facilities and services of public toilets while only 1% were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.
Sanitary Nuisances
The Department deals with environmental nuisances, including dripping air-conditioners, accumulation of refuse, defective drainage pipes and water seepage in buildings, by issuing advisory letters and statutory notices.
Litter Offences
All officers of the health inspectorate, foreman and hawker control grades of the Department are empowered to issue summonses against litter offenders. Apart from the day-to-day enforcement action, anti-littering blitz operations are also conducted. During the year, over 900 convictions were recorded for littering offences with total fines of more than $1.4 million.
The Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance, Cap. 570 empowers the enforcement officers to issue $1,500 fixed penalty notices in respect of minor cleanliness offences, including littering, spitting, the unauthorised display of bills and posters and dog fouling in public places. In 2004, over 20,000 fixed penalty notices were issued.
Hawker Management
As part of the Department's policy of reducing street hawking, no new licences are issued and eligible licensed hawkers are being relocated into public markets and cooked food centres. In addition, incentives are being offered to encourage hawkers either to give up their licences or to move into the venues. As a result, the number of licensed hawkers - both fixed-pitch and itinerant - fell to 8,048 by the end of 2004.
During the year, 62 itinerant hawkers voluntarily surrendered their licences in return for either a $30,000 ex-gratia payment or to operate a vacant fixed pitch or a market stall at a concessionary rent. At the same time, 13 cooked food stall licensees voluntarily surrendered their licences for $60,000 ex-gratia payments as part of an on-going buy-back scheme.
The management and control of hawkers is the responsibility of 2,200 trained staff members who are assigned to 191 hawker control teams. Support facilities include control centres and seized goods stores. Where necessary, hawker-handling centres are set up in police stations to facilitate charging formalities for those arrested.
Environmental hygiene staff inspect fixed pitches regularly to ensure that licensing conditions and relevant legislative provisions are observed. The hygiene staff also take action against itinerant hawkers whenever they are found plying their trade in the streets. And, where necessary, they take enforcement action to deter irregularities caused by licensed fixed pitch and itinerant hawkers; such action resulted in 2,150 convictions in 2004.
Public Markets and Cooked Food Centres/Markets
Public markets and cooked food centres/markets serve an important role in improving the overall environment in Hong Kong. There are 79 public markets, with 14,471 stalls offering commodities ranging from fresh food to household items, and 1,049 stalls in 38 cooked food centres and 25 free-standing cooked food markets. Some 11,720 stalls have been leased out while 3,800 are vacant (including 1,510 stalls frozen for designated purposes such as re-siting and renovation). Four new markets/kiosks are in the planning or construction phases. All stalls are let through auction, with stallholders entering into a tenancy agreement.
The Department has implemented a Market Manager Pilot Scheme in selected markets by hiring dedicated personnel with higher qualifications and professional management experience to run the markets. The management of all four markets in Kowloon City District was contracted out in March.
As part of a trial scheme, the Department has set up a Market Promotion Team in the FEHD headquarters building to develop promotions and organise activities for selected markets. Several initiatives have been launched, including the publication of a market newsletter, publicising promotional activities on the department's website and the use of printed material, such as banners, posters, advertisements in newspapers and at railway stations. For the opening of the Tai Po Hui Market in September, the promotion team organised a lucky draw and recipe competition.
Other initiatives being explored or implemented in selected markets involve the enhancement of customer-oriented facilities with the provision of LED (Light Emitting Diode) display panels and new signage. The views of Market Management Consultative Committees will be sought before improvements are made.
Market staff undertake daily checks to ensure stallholders observe the provisions of their tenancy agreements and the law. Health inspectorate officers also conduct regular inspections of meat, poultry, fish and cooked food stalls to ensure that the food is clean and wholesome under the relevant legislation and codes of hygiene practices. Whenever conditions warrant, enforcement action is taken. There were 1,234 convictions in 2004.
Incentive Scheme to Minimise Contact between Humans and Live Poultry
To minimise contact between humans and live poultry, as a means to further reduce the risk of human infection by avian influenza, a one-year incentive scheme was launched on 13 July 2004 to encourage live poultry retailers to voluntarily surrender their licences or tenancies.
Under the scheme -
- an ex-gratia payment is made to live poultry retailers who choose to surrender their fresh provision shop (FPS) licences or endorsement to sell live poultry on licences; or to terminate their live poultry market stall tenancies;
- retraining and one-off grants are provided to assist live poultry retail workers to find employment in other sectors as a result of their employers ceasing operations under the incentive scheme; and
- loan facilities are offered to FPS licensees selling live poultry, and who choose to continue with their trading operations, to upgrade their facilities to improve sanitary and hygiene conditions.
By the end of 2004, $50.1 million had been made in ex-gratia payments.
Cemeteries and Crematoria
The FEHD provides efficient and dignified cremation and burial services through six crematoria and 11 public cemeteries. It also monitors 28 private cemeteries. The Government's policy is to promote cremation over burial, and during the year about 84% of all dead bodies (31,332) were cremated. Some 138,149 niches are provided at reasonable prices for the storage of ashes in eight columbaria.
After six years, human remains buried in public cemeteries have to be exhumed to be either cremated or reburied in an urn cemetery. In view of the ageing population and increasing demand for cremation services, plans are in hand to upgrade cremation facilities.
New Facilities in Crematoria
New facilities at the Fu Shan Crematorium were commissioned in mid-October, while those for the Diamond Hill Crematorium are scheduled for commissioning in mid-2006.
Whenever practicable, environmentally friendly facilities with increased capacity and efficiency for cremation will be introduced to minimise environmental problems. In this connection, the Department is planning to replace the old cremators at Wo Hop Shek.
For public convenience, the booking of cremation sessions at six public crematoria - Cape Collinson, Diamond Hill, Fu Shan, Wo Hop Shek, Kwai Chung and Cheung Chau - can be made in person at Wu Chung House, Wan Chai and Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices in Kowloon.