Maintaining a clean and hygienic living environment for the people of Hong Kong is another key responsibility of the Department. The range of services includes street cleansing; waste collection; management of public toilets and aqua privies, public markets, cemeteries, crematoria and columbaria; and hawker management.
Street Sweeping
A departmental workforce of about 3,500 is deployed to provide services including street sweeping and street washing, gully emptying, waste collection and managing public toilets, aqua privies and refuse collection points.
Street sweeping is an essential service in keeping the city clean. The frequency of sweeping depends on the needs of the area and ranges from once a day to eight times a day. In the main commercial areas and tourist spots, streets are usually swept between four and eight times daily.
In addition to manual labour, mechanical suction sweepers are used to sweep highways, flyovers, central dividers and other busy traffic spots. Special cleansing squads operate on a needs basis to clean hygiene black spots. The squads are provided with tipper lorries, while vans are used for the removal of large abandoned articles and bulky waste that cannot be handled by street sweepers. The squads also undertake urgent clearance operations in the event of traffic accidents or natural disasters.
There are some 18,600 litter containers 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 ranging from four to eight times a day depending on the needs of the area. The emptying frequency of litter containers is displayed on the bins to encourage the public to monitor the performance of cleansing staff provided by the Department and cleansing services contractors. The departmental hotline 2868 0000 is printed on all litter containers for public enquiries and complaints. The Department also provides some 470 dog toilets and 880 dog excreta collection bins for the convenience of dog owners.
Street Washing
Regular street washing services are required for pavements, service lanes, hawker concentrated areas, refuse collection points and black spots. About 90 street washing teams are provided by the Department's in-house staff and cleansing services contractors to provide services to heavily patronised pedestrian precincts and hawker/hygiene black spots at least twice weekly; to busy areas at least once a week; and to other areas on a needs basis. For trunk roads with heavy traffic, where normal street washing is not practicable, street flushing is done during the non-busy hours.
Gully Emptying
Roadside gullies are normally cleared manually once every two weeks. Gully traps on highways and flyovers are cleared once every six weeks by mechanical gully emptiers after midnight when traffic is light.
Enhanced Services
Since the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in early 2003, enhanced street cleansing measures have been introduced to improve environmental hygiene. In 2005, the Department continued to provide enhanced cleansing and cleansing-related services in the following areas:
- cleansing and washing of public places and environmental hygiene black spots;
- rodent and mosquito control operations; and
- cleansing of public markets, cooked food centres and hawker sites.
So far, 63% of the Department's street cleansing services have been outsourced. A monitoring and sanction mechanism is in place to ensure contractors deliver satisfactory service.
Refuse Collection
There are 3,117 Refuse Collection Points (RCPs) in Hong Kong. They include 159 permanent off-street RCPs, which generally operate from 7.00 am to 3.30 pm, and up to 11.30 pm in busy areas; 118 temporary RCPs, 795 village-type RCPs; and 2,045 bin sites. The RCPs are of different designs according to the actual need and site availability. They are used for temporary storage of street litter and household waste pending collection. Whenever circumstances permit, the Department continues to make improvements 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. Some 5,453 tonnes of household waste are collected daily - 1,138 tonnes from Hong Kong Island, 1,684 tonnes from Kowloon and 2,631 tonnes from the New Territories and outlying islands. Waste is delivered to refuse transfer stations or landfills managed by the Environmental Protection Department.
The FEHD has outsourced 58% of its refuse collection services and, in keeping with other outsourcing contracts, it has put in place a monitoring and sanction mechanism to ensure that waste collection contractors deliver a satisfactory service.
Waste Reduction
In support of the Government's initiative to reduce waste, the Department provides recyclable collection service to 1,956 collection points in public places, schools, clinics, and government venues to recover waste paper, aluminium cans and plastic materials.
During the year, the average monthly weight of recyclable materials collected was 27,112 kilogrammes of waste paper, 2,020 kilogrammes of aluminium cans and 12,194 kilogrammes of plastic materials.
Wherever possible, retread tyres are used on the departmental vehicle fleet and plans are in hand to increase the ratio on brand-new tyres to retread tyres to 1:0.5 in the future.
Public Toilets and Aqua Privies
Public toilets are primarily provided at ferry concourses, bus termini, picnic areas, tourist spots and other busy areas. Altogether, 334 public toilets are managed by the Department - 92 on Hong Kong Island, 61 in Kowloon, and 181 in the New Territories and on outlying islands. In addition, there are 520 aqua privies in the New Territories and on outlying islands.
A refurbishment programme to upgrade old public toilets has begun, and during the year 11 facilities were improved. The Department remains committed to further improve 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 toilet compartments for users to place their personal belongings. 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, and 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 2 female toilet compartments for every male toilet compartment.
A 3-year programme to convert, where practicable, 100 aqua privies into flushing toilets meeting present day standards at popular sight-seeing spots or those with higher usage rates, is due to be completed by the end of 2007. Eight aqua privies have so far been converted. For those where site constraints restrict physical improvements, a trial scheme has started to test the suitability of bio-chemical agents to remove odours.
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 people committing cleanliness offences. Apart from day-to-day enforcement action, anti-littering raids are also conducted. During the year, about 900 convictions were recorded with fines totalling more than $1.2 million.
The Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance (Cap. 570) empowers enforcement officers to issue $1,500 fixed penalty notices for minor cleanliness offences, including littering, spitting, unauthorised display of bills and posters, and dog fouling in public places. In 2005, over 22,000 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 7,767 by the end of 2005.
During the year, 47 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, eight cooked food stall licensees voluntarily surrendered their licences for $60,000 ex-gratia payments as part of an ongoing buy-back scheme.
The management and control of hawkers is the responsibility of about 2,100 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 and regulate the operation of itinerant hawkers to ensure that licensing conditions and relevant legislative provisions are observed. They also take enforcement action to prevent irregularities caused by licensed hawkers or illegal hawking. Such action resulted in 22,485 convictions for offences related to hawking in 2005.
Public Markets and Cooked Food Centres/Markets
Public markets and cooked food centres/markets serve an important role in meeting public demand for fresh and cooked food and dry goods. There are 78 public markets, with 14,245 stalls offering commodities ranging from fresh food to household items, and 1,075 stalls in 39 cooked food centres and 26 free-standing cooked food markets. Some 11,548 stalls have been leased out, while 3,772 are vacant (including 1,334 stalls frozen for designated purposes such as re-siting and renovation). All stalls are let through auction, with stallholders entering into a tenancy agreement. The Tai Kok Tsui Market and Cooked Food Centre as well as the Mong Kok Cooked Food Market were completed in 2005. Three new markets/kiosks are under construction.
In 2005, the Department reviewed the various market management initiatives and plans to extend the trial outsourcing of market management services to two more districts in late 2006.
Market Promotion Teams have been set up in the Department to formulate and implement market promotion initiatives. These include a wide range of events and activities such as mini-performances; decorations for festive occasions; roving exhibitions on topical subjects; talks, workshops, seminars, competitions organised for market tenants and the public; and spending-induced programmes. The Department publishes an information booklet on public markets/cooked food markets and a quarterly Market Newsletter for wide distribution.
Other initiatives include the enhancement of customer-oriented facilities in selected markets, such as the provision of LED (light emitting diode) display panels, new and additional signage, publication racks, improved lighting and installation of seats.
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. Enforcement action is taken as and when necessary. There were 1,294 convictions in 2005.
Voluntary Surrender Scheme for Live Poultry Retailers
To minimise contact between humans and live poultry as a way of further reducing the risk of human infection by avian influenza, an 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;
- a one-off grant is provided to live poultry retail workers who lost their jobs 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 2005, $75.53 million had been spent on ex-gratia payments.
Cemeteries, Crematoria and Columbaria
The FEHD provides efficient and dignified cremation and burial services through six crematoria and 11 public cemeteries. It also monitors 28 private cemeteries. After six years, human remains buried in public cemeteries have to be exhumed to be either cremated or reburied in an urn cemetery.
The Government's policy is to promote cremation over burial, and during the year about 86% (33,288) of all dead bodies were cremated. In view of the ageing population and increasing demand for cremation services, plans are in hand to upgrade cremation facilities. Whenever practicable, environmentally friendly facilities with increased capacity and efficiency for cremation will be introduced to minimise environmental problems. New facilities for the Diamond Hill Crematorium are scheduled for commissioning in two phases by early 2007 and late 2008 respectively. The Department is also working on plans to replace the old cremators at the Wo Hop Shek and Cape Collinson Crematoria.
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.
Some 138,149 niches are provided at affordable prices for the storage of ashes in eight columbaria. To meet the increasing demand for niches, the Government is building about 7,000 new niches in existing columbaria at Cape Collinson, Kwai Chung and Wo Hop Shek for completion in 2006 by phases. Construction of 1,000 new niches in the Cheung Chau Columbarium will begin in 2006.