Chemical waste disposal charges will be adjusted to ensure full recovery of operating costs and to take into account consumer price movement.

The Environmental Protection Department said today that charges for normal chemical waste disposal at the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre were last revised in 1997-98. A fee review showed that in accordance with the polluter-pays principle, the charges need to be increased to enable a full recovery of the variable operating cost for providing the service. The existing charge range is $47 to $20,319. Under the proposal, the charges will range from $61 to $26,250.

For special chemical waste disposal, such as those containing expired or off-specification chemical substances and damaged chemicals, the full variable operating cost recovery rate already applies and the charges will be revised downwards according to the movement in the Consumer Price Index (B), from a range of $150 to $65,545 to a range of $130 to $56,650.

The Government will still have to bear the fixed operating, capital and administrative costs in providing the service. After gazettal today, the fee revision proposal will be tabled to lawmakers July 4 for implementation on November 9. For more details on the proposal click here.