Chapter 2 - PROFILE OF KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Our department comprises three branches - Environmental Hygiene, Food and Public Health, and Administration and Development.

An overview of our operations that may have an impact on the environment is as follows -

Environmental Hygiene Services

We strive to provide and maintain a clean and hygienic living environment for the people of Hong Kong. The range of environmental hygiene services we provide includes public cleansing service, licensing and control of food businesses, provision and management of environmental hygiene facilities and hawker management.

Public Cleansing Services

We are committed to keeping public places clean, tidy and free from litter. Direct public cleansing services range from street sweeping and washing, collection of household waste and on-street litter, gully emptying, desludging, to managing public cleansing facilities like refuse collection points (RCPs). These services are provided by our 4 000 cleansing staff and our private contractors whose services are under our close supervision.

We provide more than 18 000 litter containers and 556 dog excreta collection bins throughout Hong Kong. There are 2,924 RCPs in Hong Kong for the temporary storage of street waste and household waste pending collection. Household waste is collected at least once a day at these RCPs and about 5 955 tonnes of household waste are collected daily by refuse collection vehicles managed either by ourselves or contractors.

Licensing and Control of Food Businesses

We license food businesses to safeguard public health and safety and conduct regular inspection to ensure hygiene standards of licensed food premises are met. We also take law enforcement actions such as prosecutions, summary arrests, imposition of court orders, daily fines and suspension or cancellation of licences against unhygienic premises.

Provision and Management of Environmental Hygiene Facilities

We are responsible for the management of a wide variety of environmental hygiene facilities for public convenience. In total, we manage 38 cooked food centers, 24 free-standing cooked food markets and 81 public markets, 306 public toilets, 33 public bathhouses, 11 public cemeteries, six crematoria and eight gardens of remembrance. In line with our commitment in providing a clean and hygienic environment for the people of Hong Kong, we will continue to improve and upgrade these facilities where necessary and resources permitting.

Hawker Management

On-street hawking is a social and economic activity with a long history and has become part of Hong Kong's way of life. Through licensing and enforcement of legislation, we wish to minimize the environmental nuisance caused by street trading activities.

Food and Public Health Services

We monitor the safety of imported and locally produced food to ensure that food available for human consumption is wholesome, unadulterated and properly labelled. We also aim to safeguard public health through testing and control of live food animals; to prevent vector-borne diseases and provide advice to the public on proper food and environmental hygiene practices. Our major areas of work having environmental impact include food surveillance and certification; risk assessment and communication; and pest control.

Food Surveillance and Certification

To ensure safety of food supply in Hong Kong, we undertake continuous monitoring, testing and enforcement action. Food samples are taken at import, wholesale and retail points for chemical, microbiological, radioactivity and toxicological tests to ascertain their fitness for human consumption. Pre-packaged food is also checked for compliance with food labelling laws.

Risk Assessment and Communication

We conduct risk assessment on food safety, set food standards and recommend food safety control measures. On risk communication, we introduce and promote the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) approach to ensure food safety and provide food safety information to the public and the food industry on a regular basis.

Pest Control

We give advice on pest control and prevention to government departments and the general public. Our work includes surveillance and monitoring of pest problems to prevent local transmission and investigation of vector borne diseases. Operational services on pest control are carried out by district pest control sections.

Administration and Development Services

Planning of Capital and Minor Works Projects

We are responsible for the planning of new capital works projects and minor improvement works to existing departmental facilities such as markets, refuse collection points, public toilets and crematoria. We will continue to do our best in reducing the environmental impact during the construction and operational phases of these projects and include environmental friendly facilities to minimize any adverse environmental impact as far as possible.

Public Education and Campaigns

We operate a Health Education Exhibition and Resource Centre at Tsim Sha Tsui, organising publicity and educational programmes, and arranging exhibitions, outreaching programmes and seminars as part of the department's integrated approach to promote food safety and environmental hygiene. Awareness on environment protection is covered in our programme. Besides, we take the lead in organising the Clean Hong Kong Programme to address environmental hygiene conditions in the territory.