Hong Kong Government support Clean Production

(NPES International Printing E-commerce Website 2008-09-10) The “Clean Production Partnership Project” was formally launched “in April 2008 and achieved the full support from Guangdong and Hong Kong Government. The five-year plan is funded 93.06 million Hong Kong dollars by the Hong Kong Government in order to support Hong Kong-owned enterprises in the PRD to implement effective and sustainable clean production technology.

Allocating 93.06 million Hong Kong dollars for Five-year Plan
In 2007, the Chief Executive of the HKSAR once addressed in policy report that: "We should to develop a five-year plan to help and encourage Hong Kong-owned factories in the Pearl River Delta region to adopt clean production technologies and processes." In August 2007, "The Cooperation Agreement regarding the promotion of enterprises to develop energy-saving, clean production and comprehensive utilization of resources in Guangdong and Hong Kong " signed by Governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong.
The "Clean Production Partnership Project" officially launched in April 18 of this year which is co-prepared by the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, the Guangdong Economic and Trade Commission, the Hong Kong Productivity Council and the Business Sector .The current plan has been funded 93.06 million Hong Kong dollars by Hong Kong's Legislative Council , which mainly to support Hong Kong-owned enterprises to adopt clean production technologies and practices in the Pearl River Delta region. The Project aims to encourage Hong Kong-owned enterprises in Guangdong Province to actively participate in environmental quality improvement and support Hong Kong become into a green metropolis. This is the first time that the HKSAR Government support Hong Kong-owned companies in the Pearl River Delta region to conserve energy and reduce material consumption, reduce emissions and lower production costs by means of allocating funds.

Zeng Jinlin, the General Manager of Environmental Management Department of Hong Kong Productivity Council said in the seminar held in out city that the Hong Kong Business Sector had established a large production base in the Pearl River Delta; it is duty-bound that Hong Kong enterprises should to improve the local environment. The practice of clean production does not only relate to the image of Hong Kong businessmen, it also can improve companies’ operational efficiency by emissions reduction, energy conservation and lower consumption of resources.

Clean Production Strategy of Leo
Before the implementation of this Project, the Governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong have had implemented experimentations of "The Technical Support Experimentation Project of the Clean Production" in 2006. there were 15 Hong Kong enterprises that participated in trial project voluntarily, carried out a preliminary assessment of clean production and then selected four companies to conduct a detailed assessment of clean production, confirmed a feasible Clean Production Project, provided technical support, among which included an enterprise set up in our city-Leo Paper Printing Group (hereinafter referred to Leo), the Enterprise Ya Tushi in Heshan City is quite representative in the practice of clean production.

In the seminar on clean production, energy conservation and emission reduction in Jiangmen and Hong Kong which recently held in our city, Leo and other participating companies to share its experience in clean production. A senior manager of Leo said that Leo invested huge amount of money on environmental aspects over the years, its adopted clean production projects have achieved remarkable results. Leo energy conservation and environmental protection measures are: the establishment of energy-saving committee, they have professional persons directly to manage the progress of energy-saving measures; the installation of energy-saving equipment for large-scale machinery; air-conditioned areas where exposure to direct sunlight added by reflective film or curtains and places where exposure to direct sunlight added by SLR film or curtains, specific Projects are as follows:

Sewage Treatment: The third sewage treatment plant completed in 2006, the first, second and third sewage treatment plants can handle capacity of 8,100 cubic meters daily; Adopting water reuse measures (such as reused water for flushing toilet, irrigating flowers in plant)and reduce the dependence on water purification.

Energy-saving measures: The seventh plant uses heat-pump air-conditioning, it takes advantage of insulated pipes to deliver the hot water from heat pipes to the staff dormitories which 50 meters outside, thereby saving energy, an annual saving value is about 180,000 liters of diesel. The cancellation of the independent vacuum pump of all machineries, the "vacuum" is carried out by large-scale vacuum pump; the electricity-saving rate is 60%. T8 fluorescent tubes are replaced by T5 fluorescent tubes, electricity is saved about 25%, but they have similar brightness, and can save about 900,000 unit of electricity annually. New plants adopted T5 fluorescent tubes successively.

VOC emission reduction: ventilation hood is specially designed in silk screen machine, which can conduct independent ventilation in silk screen printing ink room and filter by adding activated carbon to reduce VOC concentration to 50 to 80 % around in the ventilation mouth. In some printing presses, they have been installed with automatic cleaning tape devices, which can reduce 25% of water to wash car, thereby reducing the headstream of VOC and decreasing the cleaning time and downtime.
Eight industries come into the Allocation Project
Mr. Fang ,the Chief Consultant of Environmental Management Division of Hong Kong Productivity Council, who introduced the general situation of "Clean Production Partnership Project" to some Hong Kong enterprises in our city. He said that this project mainly covers eight sectors, including chemical product industry, food and beverage manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, metals and fabricated metal industry (including home appliances, electrical and electronic manufacturing), non-metallic mineral product industry, paper making and paper product manufacturing, printing and publishing industry, and textile industry. These industries have air pollutant emissions in different levels, but it is also likely to achieve or improve the effectiveness of production and environmental protection through this Project. If those enterprises who apply for allocating funds do not belong to the above industries, they can also apply for it, but they should apply for it as individual cases by the Project Management Committee.
In the selection of enterprises participating in the Project, the Hong Kong Productivity Council will take into account the distribution of industries and geography to maintain balance. In addition, small and medium enterprises will be given priority, because they may not have sufficient expertise or resources to identify or adopt clean production technologies and Projects. Those enterprises that adopted representative or universal production processes in the industry, and have the potential to optimize the environment will also be given priority, because these enterprises’ participation will help to encourage other enterprises in the same industry to adopt clean production measures. In addition, they also give priority to enterprises who expressed their willingness to adopt clean production technologies and Projects.
How many enterprises can declare the Project? According to the information published on the Hong Kong Productivity Council official website, it is estimated that close to 15,000 Hong Kong-owned enterprises in the Pearl River Delta region are in the eight industries mentioned above. It is learnt that the Hong Kong capital account for 70% of the total paid-in foreign investment in our city, Hong Kong enterprise established in Jiangmen are more than 2,100, which account for more than half of the foreign-invested enterprises.
Hong Kong Enterprises in Jiangmen can apply for Allocation Project

What kind of enterprises can apply for the allocation Project? In the seminar on clean production, energy conservation and emission reduction in Jiangmen and Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Productivity Council staff introduced the allocation projects, application procedures and criteria of clean production partnership Project
Applicant enterprises refer to all Hong Kong companies that registered in Hong Kong and established factories in the PRD region, and the factory was owned by one of the following companies: the enterprises jointly ventured with Hong Kong company or established cooperatively, foreign-funded enterprises established independently by the Hong Kong company, and mainland enterprises which signed the "processing and compensation" contract with Hong Kong company.
Mr. Fang, the Chief Consultant of Environmental Management Division of Hong Kong Productivity Council said that the Hong Kong Productivity Council is the project implementing agency. There are three main projects in this project: firstly, allocating funds to on-site assessment projects of 800 to 1,000 enterprises in energy conservation , consumption reduction and emission reduction in five years, each application will achieve 50% of project costs, the maximum grant is 15,000 Hong Kong dollars; Secondly, allocating funds to about 90 demonstration projects of clean production in five years, each application will receive up to 50% of project costs, and every project’s average maximum grant is 160,000 Hong Kong dollars. This is the highest amount of allocation, its main form is allocating funds for manufacturers to employ engineering company to install equipment, systems or to improve their production processes to save energy or reduce air pollutants; Thirdly, allocating funds to 500-1000 optimization projects to improve the effectiveness Projects in five years, each application will be fully funded, the maximum grant is 15,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Four types of Clean Production Project
In accordance with technical support trial project’s implementation situation of clean production and practical experiences of Clean Production Project that have been adopted. Hong Kong Productivity Council referred to technical information at home and abroad and compiled four types of practical guide of Clean Production Project, they are: "The General Plant Energy-saving Project "," The Printing Industry Cleaner Production Project "," Industrial Boiler System Energy-saving Project ","Clean Production Project of Spraying Processes. "

According to experiences on energy audit of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, the general plant can save 10 % to 30% space; Payback period is about two to three years.