Our Fellowship Chairman today was PP Paul and our Sergeant-at-Arms was PP George. Our Sergeant-at-Arms managed to collect $750 between the raffle and fines.  While PP Gaston had tried to collect “unused” golf scorecards from around the world for Tom DiCanio, past member of our Rotary Club, he would make a HK$20 donation to Community Service for the first three cards from each club.  However, President Tobias had given him more than 10 score cards.  As a result, PP Gaston donated HK$200 to us.

President Tobias announced that the Rotary Foundation Seminar (Area 3) would be held on 9^th of August at Bankers Club, and the 75^th Golf Tournament would be held on 9^th of September at Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling.  If any members are interested to participate in those events, please contact Lillian.

PP Bernie announced that as informed by TELA (Television & Entertainment Licensing Authority), there would be a policy change on 2006.  Lottery licence would only be approved with maximum duration of 8 weeks; the date of draw should be the same as the end date of the whole lottery event.  That is, the usual mechanism of Club 888 will not be considered any more, and so the committee will discuss this later.  PP Nick has written a letter to TELA to negotiate with them, and is now waiting for a reply. 

The speaker today was Mr Michael Whitbread and the topic was “Hong Kong’s Waste – What’s to be done”.  Michael is a Director of GHK, a UK based consultancy firm working on public policy.  Currently, he is undertaking an end-of-contract review of the Chemicals Waste Treatment Facility at Tsing Yi.  The rubbish will be transported by vehicle to the refuse transfer station and then arrive the landfill.  Hong Kong has three landfills at Nim Wan, Tseung Kwan O and Ta Kwu Ling in addition to seven refuse transfer stations located in different areas. These are centralised collection points for the transfer of waste to the strategic landfills. Hong Kong, like many developed places, has seen its waste loads grow as its economy has grown.  The continued growth in waste loads means Hong Kong is running out of landfill space far earlier than expected.  The remaining landfill space will last only for 6 to 10 years if waste levels continue to increase at current levels. Waste Reduction is obviously needed, while it is often associated with recycling, it is more complex than that. Avoiding the generation of waste in the first place and minimizing waste are also crucial measures in any waste reduction strategy.  Also, the government can consider charge the disposal of waste by volume and export the waste to other country.  To solve the problem of waste management, starting with Individuals, we can reduce the waste by buying items with less packaging, using reusable bags for shopping, and separating aluminium cans, newspapers and plastic bottles for recycling.  For business and factories, they can consult the experts such as using new technology to reduce waste.