“macao solid waste resources management programme”; as
TRANSCRIPT
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Waste treatment and management is not only an important part of urban environmental
management, but also a major environmental issue of global concern. The Government of Macao
SAR pledges to promote constant improvement of waste collection, transportation, treatment and
disposal; improve related environmental infrastructures; facilitate the publicity and education in
waste reduction at source and resource recycling; enhance regional cooperation; formulate the
“Macao Solid Waste Resources Management Programme”; as well as to promote gradually the
policy of “Polluter Pays Principle”, so as to achieve sustained and improved waste management.
As a matter of fact, Macao, being a tiny area, shall handle the waste treatment properly. Aside
from effective policies, it is also important to encourage the participation of every resident and
enterprise to make their efforts to minimize the waste generation at sources as well as to exercise
waste separation in their daily life and business operation, in order to advance the wise utilization of
resources and effective waste management. The evolution of each indicator of waste will be
analyzed in this chapter.
Waste Generation
Recycling and Ultimate Disposal of Waste
Indicators for environmental analysis in this chapter
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4.1 Waste Generation
DPSIR Framework
Waste generated in Macao (mainly refers to urban domestic waste) is transferred to Macao
Refuse Incineration Plant for treatment. As shown in Figure 4.1 and Table 4.1, the waste transferred
to Macao Refuse Incineration Plant for treatment maintained a continuous upward trend in recent
years and gained a two-digit growth rate of 11.3% in 2015, which decelerated when compared with
that in 2014. It is worthy of concern that the quantity of urban domestic waste per capita had
increased by 8.1% in 2015, which was significantly higher than that of the other regions (Table 4.2).
Figure 4.1 Waste transferred to Macao Refuse
Incineration Plant for treatment and urban
domestic waste per capita in the past years
(Data source: DSPA, 2016)
Table 4.1 Numerical data and percentage increase/decrease of waste transferred to Macao
Refuse Incineration Plant for treatment, urban domestic waste per capita, special
and hazardous waste and waste generated by the electricity supply company
between 2014 and 2015
2014 2015 Percentage
increase/decrease
Special and hazardous waste (tonne) 3,118 3,101 -0.5%
Urban domestic waste per capita (kg/capita·day) 1.97 2.13 +8.1%
Waste transferred to Macao Refuse Incineration Plant for
treatment 1 (tonne)
1
457,420 509,152 +11.3%
Waste generated by the electricity supply company (tonne) 2,164 6,721 +210.6%
Note: (1) 1
Waste transferred to the Macao Refuse Incineration Plant for treatment comprises urban
domestic waste, medical waste and dehydrated sludge.
(Fonte: DSPA, 2016)
S States PP PPrreessssuurreess R Responses
I Impacts
D Driving forces
49
Table 4.2 Environmental knowledge
Quantity of urban domestic waste per capita in 2014
City/Region Urban domestic waste per capita
(kg/capita·day) Data source
Macao1 2.13 Report on the State of the Environment of Macao
2015, Macao
Beijing2 0.93 Beijing Statistical Yearbook 2015, Beijing
Shanghai2 0.69 National Bureau of Statistics of China –
National Data 2014, China
Guangzhou2 0.90 Guangzhou Statistics Information Handbook
2015, Guangzhou
Hong Kong3 1.35 Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong –
Waste Statistics for 2014, Hong Kong
Singapore4 1.52 Yearbook of Statistics Singapore, 2015,
Singapore
Notes:
(1) 1 This is 2015 data, urban domestic waste per capita = quantity of urban domestic waste ÷ (mid-year
population × days of the year).
(2) 2 Daily mean quantity of domestic waste for removal per capita = removal quantity of domestic waste
÷ [resident population (end-year) × days of the year].
(3) 3 Daily mean quantity of urban solid waste per capita = quantity of urban solid waste (daily mean
quantity) ÷ mid-year population; urban solid waste includes: domestic waste + commercial waste +
industrial waste.
(4) 4 Waste for disposal per capita = disposal quantity of waste (domestic waste + non-domestic waste) ÷
(mid-year population × days of the year).
Figure 4.2 and Table 4.3 show the physical composition of urban domestic waste. In 2015,
organic substances occupied a main proportion in the urban domestic waste, followed by plastics
and paper/cardboard.
Table 4.3 Physical composition of urban domestic waste between 2014 and 2015
(Unit: %) 2014 2015
Wood 22.3 5.8
Metals 1.7 2.5
Glass and rubble 3.3 6.7
Fabrics 3.1 4.4
Paper / cardboard 58.7 17.2
Plastics 7.9 18.0
Organic substances 3.1 45.4
(Data source: DSPA, 2016)
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Note: (1) The physical composition of urban domestic waste
was based on the result of spot-checking twice a
year.
Figure 4.2 Physical composition of urban domestic
waste in the past years
(Data source: DSPA, 2016)
Besides, there is also a variety of other types of waste generated in Macao, mostly comprising
waste generated by electricity supply company, waste vehicles as well as special and hazardous
waste. Details can be found in Figures 4.3-4.5, Tables 4.1 and 4.4.
The volume of waste generated by electricity supply company in 2015 increased to more than
3 times compared with that in 2014. The local production of electricity in 2015 saw an increase of
approximately 73%, which is one of the factors driving the increasing volume of waste generation.
The quantity of waste vehicles had a considerable increment in 2015, while the quantity of special
and hazardous waste transferred for treatment was similar to that in 2014.
Table 4.4 Numerical data and percentage increase/decrease of quantity of waste vehicles
between 2014 and 2015
(Unit: no.) 2014 2015 Percentage
increase/decrease
Total number of waste vehicles 9,390 11,315 +20.5%
• Light motorcycles 2,597 2,676 +3.0%
• Heavy motorcycles 2,709 3,243 +19.7%
• Light vehicles 3,920 5,143 +31.2%
• Heavy vehicles 153 223 +45.8%
• Semi-trailers 9 21 +133.3%
• Industrial machines 2 9 +350.0%
(Data source: DSAT, 2016)
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Note: (1) The Special and Hazardous Waste
Treatment Plant in Macao has been put
into operation since May of 2007.
Note: (1) Operation of the Macao power station has
been terminated since 2007.
Figure 4.3 Quantity of special and hazardous
waste transferred for treatment
in the past years
(Data source: DSPA, 2016)
Figure 4.4 Solid waste generated by the
electricity supply company in
the past years
(Data source: CEM, 2016)
Figure 4.5 Quantity of waste vehicles in the
past years
(Data source: DSAT, 2016)
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4.2 Recycling and Ultimate Disposal of Waste
DPSIR Framework
After incineration of waste, the remaining fly ash, slag, construction waste, sea mud will be
ultimately disposed in landfill. Figure 4.6 and Table 4.5 show the variation of waste over the years.
Although the volume of construction waste reduced in 2015, volume of fly ash and slag still
increased, driven by the increasing volume of waste incineration. Meanwhile, sea mud generated in
civil construction works had a dramatic increment, the waste disposed in landfill was thus higher
than that in 2014.
Note: (1) Sea mud is a kind of excavation material generated in civil works, its data was
published since 2009.
Figure 4.6 Waste disposed in landfill in the past years
(Data source: DSPA, 2016)
Table 4.5 Numerical data and percentage increase/decrease of volume of construction waste,
sea mud, slag and fly ash between 2014 and 2015
2014 2015 Percentage
increase/decrease
Construction waste (m3) 2,597,652 1,630,710 -37.2%
Fly ash (tonne) 19,671r 23,195 +17.9%
Slag (tonne) 91,601 122,713 +34.0%
Sea mud (m3) 1,708,785 3,098,966 +81.4%
Note: (1) r Revised figures.
(Data source: DSPA, 2016)
In terms of recycling of waste, the total volume of waste (including paper, plastics, waste
metals and so on) for recycling was higher in 2015 than that in 2014, according to the DSEC import
and export data. However, the recovery rate of recyclable waste of Macao in 2015 had a slight
decrease compared with that in 2014 due to the increasing volume of waste generation (Figure 4.7).
S States P Pressures R Responses
I Impacts
D Driving forces
53
The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) and the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau
(IACM) promoted a variety of activities in order to encourage residents participating in resources
recycling and improve the recovery rate of recyclable waste. As shown in Figure 4.6, the volume of
glass, metals and aluminum/iron cans in 2015 gained a double-digit growth compared with that in
2014. However, the recycling volume of paper and plastics in 2015 declined in varying degrees due
to the effect of market price. In general, the increase of recycling volume of waste is obviously
insufficient, compared with the total volume of waste generation.
Notes:
(1) It includes plastics, rubber, paper, metals and
other recoverable waste.
(2) Since the waste collected in Macao has been
mainly exported to the mainland and other
countries for recycling, the above data is
analyzed with reference to the DSEC import
and export data, including statistics of
recyclable paper (code: 4707), recyclable
plastics (codes: 3915, 4012), and recyclable
metals (codes: 7204, 7404, 7602), etc. Only
initial estimates are provided as relevant
statistics is limited.
Figure 4.7 Recovery rate of recyclable waste
in the past years
(Data source: DSEC, 2016)
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Table 4.6 Volume of recycled waste between 2014 and 2015 1
2014 2015 Percentage
increase/decrease
Recycled plastics (kg) 357,794 293,049 -18.1%
Recycled paper (kg) 3,013,095 2,905,464 -3.6%
Recycled glass (kg) 504,966 569,040 +12.7%
Recycled metals (kg) 113,273 152,677 +34.8%
Recycled aluminum/iron cans
(no.) 675,221 965,350 +43.0%
Note: (1) 1 Including the volume of waste recycled in the “EcoFun-Waste sorting can be fun” scheme
organized by DSPA, as well as that in the “Waste Separation and Recycling Programme” and
“Glass bottles recycling” scheme organized by IACM.
(Data sources: DSPA and IACM, 2016)
The “Waste-to-Energy” incineration mode has been adopted in the treatment of
urban domestic waste in Macao. However, the urban domestic waste per capita of Macao
is substantially higher than that of the neighboring cities, and the issue of waste is
becoming increasingly severe. The volume of waste transferred to the Macao Refuse
Incineration Plant for treatment increased tremendously from around 0.3 million tonnes
in 2011 to more than 0.5 million tonnes in 2015, nearly reaching the maximum capacity
of the Plant. Meanwhile, other types of waste (such as waste vehicles, construction
waste) also increased in recent years.
In conclusion, Macao is lack of the social atmosphere of waste reduction at source
and resources recycling in Macao is still lacking at present. Notwithstanding the increase
in recycling volume of recyclable waste, it still falls far behind the volume of waste
generation. Therefore, the recovery rate of waste stands still. It is suggested that efforts
should be made to timely establish waste management policies and implement measures
in respect of facilitating publicity and education, promoting waste reduction at source,
optimizing the environmental infrastructures, considering the economic incentives,
improving relevant laws and regulations, introducing the policy of “Polluter Pays
Principle”, as well as reinforcing regional cooperation, in an effort to cope with the
above issues in an all-round and long-term way.