Legislation and Pollution Control
Hong Kong has six main laws to control pollution. They are
the Waste Disposal Ordinance, the Water Pollution Control
Ordinance, the Air Pollution Control Ordinance, the Noise
Control Ordinance, the Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance and
the Dumping At Sea Ordinance. Most of these laws include
subsidiary regulations and other statutory provisions, such as
technical memoranda, to give effect to the principal laws.
The government has adopted a system of environmental
quality objectives as a general principle in its pollution control
laws. The objectives are set at levels that will protect
conservation goals, such as the protection of public health or
the preservation of a natural ecosystem. This system usually
gives the required environmental benefit at the least cost. The
limits it imposes on pollutant emissions are no more stringent
or costly than is necessary to achieve the conservation goal. It
also makes the maximum safe use of the environment's natural
capacity to absorb and recycle wastes.
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