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Keeping Cities Safe, Clean A Challenge for Urban Management

Beijing-based companies should pay more for the solid waste they discharge, according to participants in the City Hygiene Management and Enforcement Seminar held during the 11th Beijing Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium. The seminar involved representatives of the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission and their Hong Kong counterparts. It marked the first exchange of experience between Beijing and Hong Kong on the management and administrative enforcement of hygiene policies.

Sources said Beijing will encourage the classification of garbage. It will also adjust its solid waste treatment fees and billing mechanisms to raise rates for private waste-treatment disposal, said Wu Qiwei, division director of the City Environment Management Division of Beijing Municipal Administration Commission.

But solid waste treatment and fees were just one of the major topics discussed during the seminar. Other city management experiences were also shared, and some new ideas were brought forth.

Chen Hongzhi, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission, addressed the meeting, summarizing achievements of ten previous Beijing Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposiums.

Chu Lan-ying, assistant director of Operations Division 3 of the Environmental Hygiene Branch of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Huang Guangshan, a Hong Kong official who assisted Chu during the meeting, outlined the food hygiene, street and sewage cleaning, garbage collection, public toilet service, pest control work, street vendor management and other environmental protection strategies used in Hong Kong.

Wu Qiwei explained Beijing's solid waste management practices, focusing on waste reduction, resource-oriented and innocuous waste treatment. In 2006, Beijing Municipality generated 5.85 million tons of solid wastes, about 16,000 tons per day on average. Right now, 96.5 percent of the garbage discharged in urban Beijing undergoes innocuous treatment and the figure is 58 percent for the city's suburban areas. Forty-three percent of the garbage was classified and 30.6 percent was used for resource-oriented purposes. Because of its rapid economic development, the municipal solid waste mix is changing and becoming increasingly dangerous. Treatment approaches must be changed, and producers and consumers' should share responsibility for achieving waste reduction targets. Speakers said governmental administrators should encourage the public to use environmentally friendly products and materials.

Lui Ping Hon, the Principal Environmental Protection Officer of Special Waste Facilities Group of the Environment Protection Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, used illustrations to explain Hong Kong's solid waste treatment methods. In 2006, Hong Kong generated 16,900 metric tons of solid wastes, 45 percent of which was re-used, with 55 percent finding its way to landfills.

Administrative enforcement as a tool used in city management was one of most hotly discussed issues during the meeting. Zhang Ni, deputy division director of the Law System Section of Beijing Municipal Law-Enforcing Bureau of the City Comprehensive Administration, described the situation facing city administrators and their achievements in these areas with Hong Kong officials, with advanced methods getting the most attention.

The free discussion period of the seminar became a hotbed for new ideas and thinking, but down-to-earth topics such as the health threat to residents from burning garbage, how to provide enough public toilets during peak tourism seasons, how to manage the violent resistance to environmental laws and how to deal with recycled household appliances and batteries getting the most attention.

大力发展循环经济，提高垃圾减量化资源化无害化水平

文/李彦辉

垃圾管理是政府为公众提供的基本公共服务，直接关系到群众的切身利益，只有把垃圾作为可再生资源，从生产、流通、消费的全过程对生活垃圾的产生、处置进行引导和控制，才能更有利于实现经济、社会与生态环境的良性循环和可持续发展。在刚刚结束的第11届北京·香港经济合作研讨洽谈会上，北京和香港两地也就此问题展开了专题研讨。

2006年，北京市生活垃圾产生量为585万吨，日产生量为1.6万吨，城八区垃圾无害化处理率为96.5%，郊区垃圾无害化处理率为57%；垃圾分类收集率为43%，垃圾资源利用率为30.6%；全市共建成各种类型的垃圾处理设施23座，总处理能力为10350吨/日。

北京市目前在深化垃圾分类和垃圾减量化资源化方面所采取的措施是：在垃圾收集环节，推进和巩固源头垃圾分类收集工作；在垃圾中转环节，推广社区垃圾分类减量试点经验，规范在有条件密闭式清洁站搭载再生资源回收站；在垃圾处理环节，加快垃圾综合处理设施建设进度，推进再生资源体系建设；健全回收利用系统，充分利用生活垃圾中可回收利用资源。

香港对于城市垃圾具有一套成熟的垃圾收集处理方式。香港食物环境卫生署负责收集家居垃圾，平均每日收集的家居垃圾达到5500公吨，其中约有61%的垃圾由承包商负责，余下的39%由清洁工人负责，负责这项工作的人员（包括承包商）大概有660人，共建有159个标准型垃圾收集站，年度总开支约为3.3亿元港币。

通过此次商讨，京港双方在城市垃圾处理方面都获得了许多新的战略措施，提升了双方城市的发展水平。北京目前正在围绕垃圾减量化、资源化、无害化的方针，科学调整工艺比例，从以前卫生填埋为主的处理方式向资源综合利用方式转变，逐步建立起城乡统筹、布局合理、技术先进、资源得到有效利用的现代化垃圾处理体系。