Mass communication and pro-environmental behaviour: waste recycling in Hong Kong

Treatment of domestic waste has been one of the major environmental problems in Hong Kong. The Government has a stated policy to advocate the minimization of waste disposal through the encouragement of waste reduction, re-use and recycling. The current study applies Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour to predict behavioural intention and actual behaviour of voluntary use of waste recycling receptacles. A systematic random sample of 173 household members in a public housing estate were interviewed. The results indicated that attitude was the major factor in predicting behavioural intention, followed by behavioural control and social norms. Attitude, subjective norm and perceived control together explained 44% of the variance of behavioural intention. Perception of mass media as a major source of subjective norm was first introduced and tested. Mass communication stood out as one of the major sources of influence in establishment of subjective norms. The study has the implication that more publicity messages should be put on the mass media to promote green behaviours.     

Management and recycling of waste glass in concrete products: Current situations in Hong Kong

Disposal of more than 300 tonnes waste glass daily derived from post-consumer beverage bottles is one of the major environmental challenges for Hong Kong, and this challenge continues to escalate as limited recycling channels can be identified and the capacity of valuable landfill space is going to be saturated at an alarming rate. For this reason, in the past ten years, a major research effort has been carried out at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University to find practical ways to recycle waste glass for the production of different concrete products such as concrete blocks, self-compacting concrete and architectural mortar. Some of these specialty glass-concrete products have been successfully commercialized and are gaining wider acceptance. This paper gives an overview of the current management and recycling situation of waste glass and the experience of using recycled waste glass in concrete products in Hong Kong.     

The role of perceived effectiveness of policy measures in predicting recycling behaviour in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a compact and ‘land-hungry’ city where recycling has become an important measure for treating waste and reducing the demand on the limited landfills. The objectives of this paper are to extend the model of recycling attitude and behaviour to explain the relationship between perceived policy effectiveness and recycling behaviour. Previous studies on recycling attitude and behaviour had widely adopted the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the norm activation model (NAM), and drawn policy implications from them. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted to investigate the role of perceived effectiveness of policy measures in predicting recycling behaviour. To address this, a model that integrates the TPB and NAM was proposed in this study, and a street survey was conducted to investigate the case. The results illustrate that recycling intention is influenced by subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, moral norms, and awareness of consequences, as well as a newly proposed construct, namely perceived policy effectiveness. The study proved self-reported recycling behaviour (direct behaviour) and support for policy measures (indirect behaviour) are influenced by recycling intention. All in all the Government should provide more recycling bins, guidelines on recycling activities, and should accent what it has been doing to facilitate and encourage recycling.     

Cultural shift towards sustainability in the construction industry of Hong Kong

Sustainable development is forward-looking; it is a continuous mission for future developments of human society. A genuinely sustainable society is one that initiates developments in sustainable ways. The development of a genuinely sustainable society is supported by its citizens who think and act according to a recognized code of conduct - the sustainable culture. Similar to other forms of culture, sustainable culture of a society is not static, but changes over time. The changes found in a sustainable culture are reflections of the status of sustainability in a society and these changes should be measured from time to time. The resulting measurement gives very important information for decision-makers, in the government and in the private sector, to examine the magnitude of changes that have taken place in a given period of time. The results will also enable them to review and adjust policies in order to better accommodate changes according to the trends of society.This paper provides a method – the T-model, to investigate and measure the extent of change of sustainable culture through two extensive surveys among participants of the construction industry of Hong Kong. The change in sustainable culture is reflected by the change in attitude and practice among construction participants, this can be found in their performance in project development, design and construction operations. The data of these changes are collected and converted to numerical scores. The T-model synthesized these scores and revealed the change of sustainable culture within the specific study time frame.     

Environmental Monitoring and Audit in Hong Kong

This paper provides an overview of H ong Kong's approach to the environmental monitoring and audit of the construction and operation of major development projects as a continuation of the Environmental Impact Assessment process. The paper examines the development of systems and guidelines for the engineer who is responsible for implementing a project, in terms of environmental monitoring and audit protocols set out in a manual, and in terms of monthly and quarterly reporting. In addition, systems have been developed to manage cumulative effects arising from multiple projects in one area which are undertaken by different agents. The paper concludes with a number of key lessons learned, pointing out what environmental monitoring and audit teams need to do to be successful, and what needs to be done to enhance the effectiveness of environmental monitoring and audit protocols.     

Urban renewal and environmental planning in Hong Kong

Summary The grave shortage of land suitable for development has always been a major constraint on urbanisation in Hong Kong. Rather lax or inappropriate planning controls in the past have resulted in haphazard city growth, leaving extensive areas of densely-packed tenement slums. Recent sluggish attempts at urban renewal have brought little relief. The objectives of environmental planning to rejuvenate the old districts are assessed in relation to their limitations and potential. The problems and opportunities of employing comprehensive redevelopment to upgrade environmental quality with reference to building stocks in the pre-war and post-war private residential, public housing and obsolete industrial sectors are evaluated. The prospects of environmental improvement through new institutional framework and legislative measures are discussed.     

建筑废弃物的回收原理与方法研究

由于社会和经济因素的要求,当今的建筑生命周期要最大程度地完成圆形的循环过程,即重新使用拆建物料制造新产品。循环经济的大背景下,承建商通过坚实的理论基础,采用分层次的方法来进行建筑废弃物的管理。文中总结了两种方法的优点和缺点,进行了混合回收与源头分离两种方法的比较研究。最值得注意的是两个不同的意向方案:绿色星球计划和ICC-ESSAVETM方案。突出的可持续认证和设计方案及绿色星球计划侧重的能源效率模型时常被繁重调试系统的LEED所青睐。一旦被国际编码理事会所批准,这些文件可以在LEED的评分系统下或绿色星球计划中,帮助其寻找资格评分。文章最后分析了建筑废弃物的回收流程,并得出结论:高达95%的建筑和拆迁建筑废弃物都可以回收;回收相比垃圾填埋更节省资金;源头分离较混合回收需要更多的管理和劳动力,但能获得更大的经济利益;承建商应该组织和管理现场的回收工作。     

Costs and benefits of packaging waste recycling systems

This Special Issue provides several different perspectives on the complex issue of packaging waste recycling. It comprises a diverse and rich set of contributions with insights from very different disciplines that range from economics to engineering. All types of “costs and benefits” are addressed in this collection of articles. In addition to the economic and strictly financial impacts of selective collection and sorting of packaging waste, several authors discuss other types of impacts, such as the environmental and social ones. The reader will find articles that address recycling systems as a whole, pieces that focus on specific impacts and detailed discussions of particular material streams or waste management strategies. The Special Issue represents an indispensable resource for academics, policy-makers and practitioners with interests in recycling and packaging waste management.     

Business environmental initiatives: Beyond waste reduction and recycling

Xerox was one of the first U.S. companies to discover that environmentally sound practices not only result in good community relations, but also often more than pay for themselves. This article presents ideas and guidelines companies can use in their waste reduction and recycling programs. Implementing a waste reduction and recycling program is an important step toward improved environmental performance. Given the numerous ways businesses affect the environment—through purchasing, manufacturing, and resource consumption—waste reduction and recycling are just two of many potential environmental measures. This article will highlight further initiatives your business can take toward sustainable development, defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.     

Status and prospects of environmental protection in Hong Kong

Summary Environmental protection in Hong Kong traditionally has been neglected by the government and private sector, with citizens showing little interest. The overwhelming pre-occupation with economic growth and a plethora of pressing social needs are often cited as the main excuses for past apathy. Since the late 1970s, the government has taken positive steps to establish administrative structures and statutes to arrest environmental decline. Legislative processes, however, have often been delayed and the effectiveness of the laws trimmed by the strong industrial lobby. The erratic developments in the 1980s nevertheless allowed the enactment of four dedicated environmental laws and a complement of ancillary control measures. The current status of the environment in the fields of water, waste, air and noise has been assessed to highlight the pertinent maladies and shortcomings. The 1989 White Paper provided a clear package of official policies and programmes to correct past ills in a ten-year comprehensive plan. The ameliorative measures, both present and projected, are evaluated for their effectiveness and prospects. Some issues that deserve more attention and improvements are suggested.     

Rural blight and land use planning in Hong Kong

Reader in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of Hong Kong. Despite the rapid urbanization of Hong Kong over the last few decades, until the late 1960s a serene countryside, contrasting with the bustling city close at hand, was left by default. Whereas many of the extra-urban hills have been designated as country parks, which guards them against development, the farmland and villages in the lowland have been intruded upon increasingly by non-conforming uses. The new-town programme initiated in the 1970s accelerated the rural degradation. Agricultural decline and urban-generated forces such as city expansion, land-value appreciation, port development, suburbanization and China trade provided the impetus. Urban-oriented activities, in particular open storage and port back-up, informal factories and village houses, began to encroach indiscriminately. A landmark court judgement in 1983 allowing such uses of farmland initiated a rampant spread and rural blight. The small rural realm has telescoped and accentuated the degradation. The policy of minimum interference in indigenous villagers' affairs accounted partly for the slow response. Belated statutory measures, introduced in 1991, ushered modern planning into the rural areas for the first time. The long-term policy aims at containing the proliferation, discontinuing uses at sensitive locations and opening sites and facilities for orderly accommodation of an inevitable urban overspill.     

建筑与建筑拆除废弃物的回收:基础工具

本文主要讲述了建筑与建筑拆除废弃物回收的基础工具,包括建筑废弃物管理的基本元素、废弃物材料的重新使用、回收的团队管理、回收培训和管理方案、循环材料的运输几个方面的内容。     

The country parks programme and countryside conservation in Hong Kong

Summary Urban and agricultural developments in Hong Kong are intensive and spatially concentrated in a quarter of the land, leaving a sizeable area of hilly countryside with unrestricted access, relatively empty and unspoilt. Care for this common heritage, in the past, focused on afforestation of the denuded hillslopes especially in reservoir catchments. The remaining parts, covered by grasses and shrubs, hardly received attention. The rapid population growth, urban encroachment and unplanned recreational use, threatened to engulf and ruin the countryside from the 1960s. A country parks programme was initiated belatedly in 1972, and was rapidly accomplished, so that in 1979 40 percent of the land was designated. The parks are broadly divided into high-intensity recreation, low-intensity recreation, and conservation zones. The programme has been successful in encouraging informal outdoor recreation, but has also engendered environmental problems which contradict the principal conservation goal. The overuse of sites and footpaths causes soil and vegetation damage. Hill fires, ignited by, and widely dispersed litter, left by, irresponsible and careless visitors, are additional forces of degradation. Long-term management should aim at containing these problems and plan for the anticipated changing recreational demands in the future.Dr C. Y. Jim is a lecturer in biogeography and soil science at the Department of Geography and Geology, University of Hong Kong.     

An illicit economy: scavenging and recycling of medical waste

This paper discusses a significant illicit economy, including black and grey aspects, associated with medical waste scavenging and recycling in a megacity, considering hazards to the specific group involved in scavenging as well as hazards to the general population of city dwellers. Data were collected in Dhaka, Bangladesh, using a variety of techniques based on formal representative sampling for fixed populations (such as recycling operatives) and adaptive sampling for roaming populations (such as scavengers). Extremely hazardous items (including date expired medicines, used syringes, knives, blades and saline bags) were scavenged, repackaged and resold to the community. Some HCE employees were also observed to sell hazardous items directly to scavengers, and both employees and scavengers were observed to supply contaminated items to an informal plastics recycling industry. This trade was made possible by the absence of segregation, secure storage and proper disposal of medical waste. Corruption, a lack of accountability and individual responsibility were also found to be contributors. In most cases the individuals involved with these activities did not understand the risks. Although motivation was often for personal gain or in support of substance abuse, participants sometimes felt that they were providing a useful service to the community.     

粤港的红树林资源与开发利用

广东红树林植物有10科14种,香港有9科11种,两地共有红树林面积8322ha。红树林具有一定的生态资源价值和经济资源价值。生态资源价值有宝贵的生物基因库,保护海岸的绿色长城,巨大的营养源和鸟类的乐园。经济资源价值有薪炭、木材、造纸工业原料、提取单宁、食品、药材、绿肥、养蜂、水产养殖业和旅游业等。根据目前粤港红树林状况,可开辟水产养殖基地,发展旅游业,建立红树林林场和各种加工厂。     

Soil Characteristics and Management in an Urban Park in Hong Kong

3   threshold. With diminished porosity, transmission of air and water, storage of plant-available moisture, and root growth suffer. Chemically, the samples have an unnatural alkaline pH; inadequate organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, exchangeable cations; and limited cation exchange capacity. The results can help park-soil management, including the need to evaluate soil in planned park sites, salvage high-grade soil parcels, prevent construction damage, ameliorate structure by mechanical operations and suitable amendments, and replace site soil of very poor quality. Edaphic problems can be forestalled or solved by treating soil as an integral component of park planning and management based on scientific principles and methods.     

Environmental attitudes and behaviour of secondary school students in Hong Kong

Summary A postal survey of 992 secondary students in Hong Kong using the Weigel and Weigel environmental concern scale was conducted to investigate their environmental attitudes which were reflected in a readiness to engage in various pro-environmental behaviours including paper recycling at school and at home and the use of less tissues and plastic bags. The results indicated that students' expressed great concern about the environment and exhibited a strong willingness to participate in pro-environmental behaviour. However, students' overoptimism towards technological development and the perceived importance of the benefits of modern consumer goods were two major factors that contradicted their concern for environment. The Pearson correlation coefficient between environmental concern and comprehensive behavioural intention was strong and positive (0.52). Television and school were cited as major sources of environmental information. Mass media were more important than personal media in the dissemination of environmental information. Female students, older students and students living in private housing held more positive environmental attitudes and were more willing to engage in pro-environmental behaviour. Factor analysis indicated that the environmental concern scale was composed of two factors, personal sacrifice and optimism/issue.Ms Kara K.W. Chan is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University. She has previously worked in the advertising and public relations profession and as a statistician for the Hong Kong Government. She is actively involved in research on Hong Kong and China's mass communication and advertising industry, consumer behaviour and the promotion of pro-environmental behaviour.     

Marine protected areas and local coastal conservation and management in Hong Kong

This paper focuses on the role of marine parks and reserves in the conservation of Hong Kong's coastal environment. This environment is under serious threat as a result of pollution of marine waters and habitat loss associated with urbanisation, large-scale reclamation projects, and inadequate treatment and disposal of sewage and industrial effluents. The paper discusses whether in a highly urbanised and stressed environment like Hong Kong, which currently lacks a conservation strategy and an overall framework for handling sustainability issues, small marine parks and reserves can be effective in helping to conserve local biodiversity. The paper also suggests that Hong Kong should adopt a broader regional perspective on its coastal conservation and management problems, a perspective that recognises the significance for the territory of the rapid urban and industrial development taking place in neighbouring Guangdong Province. This will require more extensive and focused liaison with Chinese agencies.     

Marine protected areas and local coastal conservation and management in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper presents as case studies some New Zealand local government sustainable development initiatives in cleaner production and civic building design. From a series of structured interviews with key players, it describes key motivators and demotivators and puts these in the context of behaviour change theory. These enable a set of actions for local government to be developed that, if applied, could result in an advancement of the sustainable development agenda. However, other critical factors are given that are external to these actions and on which their overall success is dependent. In reviewing these factors as a group we conclude that far greater understanding of the partnership formation process and its dynamic in engendering successful sustainable development decision-making processes is crucial to move beyond the rhetoric of partnerships and enter the more complex and difficult world of truly participatory approaches.     

The effects on waste reduction and recycling rates when different components of the waste stream are counted

States differ in the components or solid waste management activities which they include when determining solid waste reduction and recycling rates. Thus, when attempting to draw comparisons among states, confusion arises in two ways: (1) use of two types of rates; and (2) use of different components or activities when calculating a given rate. This paper presents a mathematical basis for understanding the impacts on rate calculations when variations occur in the components and activities included in those calculations. Estimates of the incremental changes occurring in the rate calculations when incineration or selected components such as yard waste, construction and demolition wastes, and junked automobiles, are added to a base of municipal solid waste constituents are found using national data. Finally, the achieved rates reported by states counting different combinations are compared.