Good one, espresso!

Anybody else would like to change the words in Harry's cartoon with something appropriate, maybe even something witty, please?

I notified Scott Wilson from CDM Joint Venture who's supervising Kaden, and he told me that other people contacted him two weeks ago to report illegal dumping of such waste. He is obviously concerned, because Kaden have a billing account to dispose of waste in government landfills, and the illegal actions of VV drivers could taint Kaden's reputation. They are conducting an internal investigation, but need more witnesses to come forward.

Dear Tavis,

Thanks for your concern on environment protection! Please see my reply below to three of your concerns:

Land filling on private land
Attached please find a government document that explains the current statutory control of land filling on private land. WWF views the current statutory control ineffective (see the second attachment for our detailed views).

The current control of land filling on private land is complicated and has many inadequacies. It caught legislators' attention last year and was discussed in the Legco Environmental Affairs Panel (EA Panel) in April 08, May 08, June 08 and Feb 09. The EA Panel formed a "Subcommittee on combating fly-tipping" on 30 Mar 09. The Subcommittee will review the existing policies on enforcement against fly-tipping and suggest improvement measures where necessary. I strongly encourage you and your neighbours to write to the Subcommittee to express your concern. The public will likely be given a chance to present their views in one of the upcoming meetings of the Subcommittee, so keep an eye on when the Subcommittee will meet again: http://www.legco.gov.hk/general/english ... ea_cft.htm. WWF will make our own submissions and/or presentations too.

Preventing stream/river from environmental destruction activities
Most natural streams in Hong Kong are on government land and hence any suspected unauthorised excavation / filling of natural streams should be reported to Lands Department and Environmental Protection Department (call government's hotline: 1823).

If you know that the affected area is on private land, you can verify if the filling / excavation is legal by checking the statutory zoning of the subject sites (http://www.ozp.tpb.gov.hk/). In general, if the affected area is on zonings with filling / excavation restrictions and if there is no permission from Town Planning Board beforehand, the filling / excavation is likely unauthorised and you should report it to Planning Department. Zonings with filling / excavation restrictions usually refer to "Green Belt", "Conservation Area", "Coastal Protection Area" and "Sites of Special Scientific Interests". Also, "Agriculture" zoning limits laying of soil not more than 1.2 m thick for the purpose of cultivation.

Subject Yung Shue Long land filling
The subject area is on "Agriculture" zoning in the Lamma Island Outline Zoning Plan. Though apparently the filling exceeds 1.2 m in thickness, no enforcement actions can be undertaken by Planning Department because of a loophole in the Town Planning Ordinance (see our second attachment for details of such a loophole). Attached please find our letter of concern and the reply from Planning Department on this matter for your information.

Please let me know if you have further questions. I would be happy to further discuss with you on these topics.

Best wishes,
Michael Lee

Loopholes must be closed, but apparently it can only be done at legislative level.

This paper presented at Legco by the WWF mentions all the loopholes, and paints a very sad picture: even land that falls into green belts and conservation zones has been degraded by illegal dumping, and no action was taken by the EPD. If they catch the parties responsible for dumping C&D waste, the fine is HK$1500, less that what you get for smoking in a smoke-free area.

http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr07-08/english ... 68-1-e.pdf

Sorry you were confused. We should have realised you wouldn't read further than your own nose to find the quote it went with, a few millimetres above it.