Week 11

Pre-Session Reflection

Integrated Waste Management Facility, Hong Kong

http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/prob_solutions/WFdev_IWMF.html

This was a project that I had been working for half a year from Jan 2017 to Jun 2017. The site is located in Shek Kwu Chau, an island that is distanced from metropolitan Hong Kong. The site area is around 100.000sqm. The client of this project is Hong Kong government's Environmental Protection Department, who hired Keppel Seghers, an integrated waste management specialist, as their sub-contractor concerning the operation of the facility. While there is no doubt that building this facility would be much better than sending waste straight to landfill, I still have some concerns and criticism. Although some materials like plastic and metals are recovered and recycled, a lot of the waste is actually managed through a very large boiler (180m heigh and 18 radius), where it is processed, burned and then later energy is generated. People who live nearby this island also have their concerns regarding pollution and the resultant air quality/ smoke. While I believe that this facility will to some extent, lessen the burden of dwindling landfill sides, and be able to recycle some waste, I think that a much more efficient way is to target the source itself. I believe the government should first and foremost, invest more resources in educating the general public on recycling, and make it mandatory with levy on bottles, plastic bags, glass, etc.

Post-Session Reflections:

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How much of China's emissions is the rest of the world responsible for?" by Mat Hope

China is often portrayed as the world's biggest greenhouse gas emission country, overtaking the US.

However, there are different ways to look at this and to understand it, either in an absolute way looking at the overall CO2 emissions (with trade, export,etc) , or relatively (the per capita emissions).

But is it really just to simply say that China is the biggest culprit? China is the manufacturing hub of the world, isn't our computer, our phone, our clothes, and the list goes on....most of the items we use in our daily lives are made in china, thus aren't we also contributing to China's CO2 emissions. 

It would be a lot fairer to look at China's CO2 emissions taking into account of how much of what is manufactured stays within its borders and also to look at how much of that is exported. Another fairer way to look at China's emissions is to consider its population. China being the most populous country on earth, emits the most CO2 but if we were to look at the emission per capita, we discover that China's CO2 emissions per head are lower than that of US and some other "developed" countries.