雙語社評齊齊聽
英語 (足本收聽)
普通話 (足本收聽)
【明報專訊】TO HELP REDUCE WASTE at source, a waste charging scheme is important. However, the Hong Kong government has for a long time failed to push through such a scheme with determination.
英語
垃圾徵費可收源頭減廢之效，但是特區政府耗費了多少歲月，仍然未見決心推行。
普通話
As much as 13,400 tonnes of waste is sent to landfills every day in Hong Kong, the per capita waste generation being 1.27 kilogram, or about twice as much as that of Taiwan, which is 0.39 kilogram, or of Korea, which is 0.45 kilogram.
英語
本港每日有1.34萬公噸廢物送到堆填區處理，人均製造廢物數量1.27公斤，較諸台灣0.39公斤和韓國0.45公斤，多出約兩倍。
普通話
It has been proved, in Taipei as well as Seoul, that waste charging is effective in reducing waste at source. In Korea, a few years after the introduction of waste charges in 1995, waste disposal was reduced by about 40 percent; in Taipei, the introduction of waste charges in 2000 resulted in a waste disposal reduction of about 65 percent in 2011. The Hong Kong government lags far behind the Taiwan and Korean governments in this respect, relying solely on the expansion of landfills and the construction of waste incinerators for waste disposal, which not only are a cause of pollution problems, but also have given rise to political issues. Those affected by and strongly opposed to the expansion of landfills, for instance, argue that, rather than expanding landfills all the time, more should be done to reduce waste at source. And this is the strongest of their arguments.
英語
徵收垃圾費，可以做到源頭減廢，在台北和韓國的首爾已經得到印證。韓國在1995年開始收垃圾費，幾年之後廢物棄置率下降約40%；台北於2000年實施徵費，到2011年人均家居廢物棄置率減少約65%。港府在處理垃圾方面大落後，只是倚賴擴建堆填區、興建焚化爐，不但帶來環境污染問題，更衍生政治問題，受堆填區影響而群起反對擴建的居民，指政府未做足源頭減廢，只管堆填，是他們最具說服力的反對理由。
普通話
The Environmental Protection Department last year carried out a public consultation on municipal solid waste charging, and found that more than 60 percent of those interviewed believed that waste charging was necessary, and almost 60 percent favoured a quantity-based charging system. It can thus be seen that waste charging is not without its base of support in society as a whole.
英語
環保署去年做的都市固體廢物收費諮詢結果，超過六成受訪者認為有必要引入收費機制，接近六成傾向贊成按量收費。所以，就整體社會氛圍，對徵收垃圾費不能說全無社會基礎。
普通話
The Council for Sustainable Development has now launched a consultation paper setting out three household waste charging proposals. Proposal one contemplates a household-based system, whereby households are required to send their waste to a designated place at a designated time; and proposals two and three are building-based, requiring respectively a building to pay according to the weight or volume of waste produced by the whole building. Under proposals two and three, property management firms would have to make arrangements with the households concerned, so that collective payments might be made to the government on the basis of waste quantity. Regrettably, the consultation paper does not mention the expected waste reduction ratio of each of the three proposals. In the absence of such data, the public can hardly enter into objective discussions and make an informed choice.
英語
可持續發展委員會（下稱續委會）發表徵收垃圾費的諮詢文件，就家居垃圾徵費，提出了3個方案。方案一是按住戶收費，住戶每次在特定時段內，把垃圾送到指定收集點；方案二是按整座樓宇的廢物重量收費；方案三是按整座樓宇的廢物體積收費。在方案二及方案三，物業管理公司須與居民商議有關安排，以按量收費原則，共同承擔費用，向政府繳費。不過，續委會的諮詢文件卻無觸及採用哪一個方案，可以使廢物棄置率下降多少，缺乏這些數據估算，市民難以客觀討論和抉擇。
普通話
Given what is to happen in the next three years, we are not too optimistic about the introduction of a waste charging scheme. There are two major reasons for our lack of optimism. First, the Council for Sustainable Development is to submit its report by the end of next year. As political reform is likely to be the order of the day next year, the government can hardly be expected to do much with regard to waste charging unless extra efforts are made. Second, the District Council elections and Legislative Council elections are to be held in succession in 2015 and 2016, while the Chief Executive is to be elected in 2017 by universal suffrage for the first time. Experience shows that the authorities always try to avoid controversial issues during an election year. As long as this election year attitude remains unchanged, not much progress can be expected in waste disposal charging in the next four years.
英語
展望未來3年種種情况，垃圾徵費能否落實，也不敢樂觀，主因有二：（1）續委會預期明年底才交報告，以明年政改討論將如火如荼，除非政府拿出大魄力，否則難望積極推動徵費；（2）2015年有區議會選舉，2016年有立法會選舉，2017年更有首次的特首普選，過去每逢選舉年，當局都避免觸及具爭議議題，若這個取態不變，則未來4年，垃圾徵費難有進展。
普通話
If Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying wants to show that his is a government of deeds, he should publicly pledge that, before his term as Chief Executive ends in 2017, a waste charging scheme based on the "polluter pays" principle will definitely be in place.
英語
若特首梁振英要展示他率領的是一個有作為的政府，就應該向公衆承諾，到2017年首任特首任滿之前，一定會推行落實按污染者自付原則的垃圾徵費。
普通話
明報社評 2013.09.26
Presented by lecturers of Hong Kong Community College, PolyU and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Wience Lai
Lecturer, HKCC
http://www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/social_communication/details.php?id=75&lang=eng
周文駿
香港專上學院講師
http://www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/social_communication/details.php?id=92&lang=chi
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