Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ13: Pet cremation services
Following is a question by the Hon James To, and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative
Council today (June 5):
Question:
At present, if members of the public do not wish to send the carcasses
of their pets to the landfills for disposal like refuse, they need to
use pet carcass cremation services provided by pet funeral service
companies. Since such services are usually located in
commercial/residential or industrial buildings without any regulation,
cremation of pet carcasses has generated environmental hygiene and air
pollution problems, thus causing nuisances to residents in the
neighbourhood. In view of this, the Food and Environmental Hygiene
Committee of the Yau Tsim Mong District Council last year urged the
Government to introduce legislation to regulate such activities. In this
connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has compiled statistics on the approximate number of
households in the territory which are currently keeping pets, the
respective numbers of such households keeping cats, dogs and other pets,
as well as the respective numbers of cats, dogs and other pets kept by
such households; if so, of the statistics;
(b) of the number of animal carcasses collected at refuse collection
points and, among them, the respective numbers of those of dogs, cats
and other animals, in each year from 2009 to 2012 and the first quarter
of this year;
(c) whether it knows the current number of pet funeral service companies
in the territory which provide pet carcasses cremation and handling
services, the districts and types of buildings in which such companies
are mainly located, and the number of animal carcasses they cremate each
year;
(d) of the total current number of "specified process" licences
(applicable to cremators of an installed capacity exceeding 0.5 tonne
per hour) issued under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance (Cap. 311)
for cremators and, among such licences, the number of those issued for
pet carcass cremators; whether the authorities had, in the past five
years, conducted sample tests on the exhaust of such pet carcass
cremators to determine if the exhaust contained any harmful substances
such as dioxins; if they had, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for
that; whether it will investigate if the operations of those pet carcass
cremators located in commercial/residential and industrial buildings
have caused air pollution;
(e) of the number of complaints received by the authorities relating to
pet funeral service companies, the major contents of such complaints and
the districts where the companies under complaint were mainly located,
as well as the number of such complaints involving breaches of the
relevant legislation on fire safety, environmental hygiene, air
pollution or land use, in each of the past five years;
(f) whether the services currently provided by the Government for the
scattering of cremated human ashes at sea or in Gardens of Remembrance
include services for scattering cremated pet ashes; if not, whether it
will consider the addition of such services;
(g) whether it has studied the legislation and approaches of overseas
places for regulating the handling and cremation of pet carcasses; if
so, whether the operations of such cremation are sited in annexes to
facilities for cremation of human remains, and of the details; if not,
whether the Government will consider conducting such a study; and
(h) given that some members of the public have pointed out that there is
currently a rising trend in the demand for pet carcass cremation
services in Hong Kong, and the cremation processes cause nuisances to
the densely populated communities, whether the authorities will consider
afresh introducing legislation on pet carcass cremation services, so as
to regulate such processes through a licensing system; whether they
will, in the process of land use planning, identify suitable sites for
provision of public pet carcass cremation services, so as to reduce the
nuisances and health problems caused to residents by pet carcass
cremation services?
Reply:
President,
At present, the relevant government departments may, according to their
respective mandate, inspect premises where pet cremation and hospice
services are provided to check compliance with the relevant legislation
and requirements, including the Public Health and Municipal Services
Ordinance (Cap. 132), the Air Pollution Control Ordinance (APCO) (Cap.
311), the Fire Services Ordinance (Cap. 95), the Dangerous Goods
Ordinance (Cap. 295) and the land leases, etc.
If the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) receives
complaints about sanitary nuisance emanating from premises where pet
cremation service is provided, their staff will inspect the premises
concerned and take enforcement actions under the Public Health and
Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132) as necessary. On receiving
complaints about black smoke or odour emitted in the process of
cremating pet carcasses, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD)
will carry out inspections and take enforcement actions according to the
APCO (Cap. 311) as necessary. The Fire Services Department (FSD) will
conduct inspections and take necessary enforcement actions pursuant to
the Fire Services Ordinance (Cap. 95) and the Dangerous Goods Ordinance
(Cap. 295). For substantiated complaints about breaches of lease
conditions, the Lands Department (LandsD) will take appropriate lease
enforcement actions.
My reply to the various parts of the question raised by the Member is as
follows:
(a) According to the findings of the Thematic Household Survey on
keeping of dogs and cats conducted by the Census and Statistics
Department from October to December 2010, some 249 400 households were
keeping dogs or cats, representing 10.6% of all households in Hong Kong.
Among them, 4.1% (97 100 households) and 7.1% (166 500 households) were
keeping cats and dogs respectively.
Of those 166 500 households keeping dogs, 72.8% kept one dog, 17.5% two
dogs, and the remaining 9.8% three or more. The total number of dogs
being kept was 247 500.
Of those 97 100 households keeping cats, 61.4% kept one cat, 23.4% two
cats, and the remaining 15.1% three or more. The total number of cats
being kept was 167 000.
The Administration does not have information on other pets kept by
members of the public.
(b) Between 2009 and March 2013, the FEHD collected a total of 40 469
animal carcasses from its refuse collection points, with breakdown as
follows:
No. of dog carcasses 27 106
No. of cat carcasses 12 787
No. of carcasses: other animals 576
(including rabbits, tortoises, hamsters and snakes, etc.)
(c) According to information available to the Administration, more than
ten local pet cremation service operators exist in the market place.
Most of them operate in industrial buildings while some are accommodated
in commercial buildings or the rural areas. The total number of animal
carcasses cremated by these operators each year is not available to the
Administration.
(d) Under the APCO, there are five incinerators in Hong Kong that have
been granted a "specified process" licence issued by the EPD. None of
them is used for cremating animal carcasses. The facilities currently
used for cremating animal carcasses in Hong Kong are generally of a
small scale with a capacity that is below the threshold for a "specified
process" incinerator regulated under the APCO (i.e. 0.5 tonne per hour).
As such, the composition of the air emissions from these facilities is
not subject to compliance test. Nevertheless, by virtue of the
regulatory requirements in the APCO, air emissions from these facilities
should not cause air pollution or nuisance to nearby inhabitants.
Between 2009 and March 2013, as a result of inspections to follow up
complaints about pollution, the EPD instituted five prosecutions as part
of the enforcement actions taken against facilities which had violated
the APCO.
(e) From January 2009 to March 2013, the EPD, FEHD, LandsD and FSD
received 41, 21, 28 and 10 complaints respectively in relation to the
operation of pet cremation service. Most of the complaints were about
emission of smoke or odour, sanitary nuisance, possible breach of lease
conditions and suspected presence of dangerous goods. The complaints
were mainly directed at premises located in Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong, Kwai
Chung and Yau Tsim Mong, etc.
(f) The services provided by the Government for the scattering of
cremains at sea or in Gardens of Remembrance do not cover pet cremains.
We have no plan to add a service for the scattering of pet cremains.
(g) According to the information we have collected, services provided in
overseas countries for the disposal of human remains are usually
separated from those for animal remains. Animal remains will either be
disposed of by the animal owners themselves or by commercial operators.
For animal remains, the disposal method may include cremation, burial,
delivering to landfills, or decomposing into composting materials or
materials for other uses. The choice of disposal method is for the
animal owners to decide. In the United States and Canada, it may be
necessary for animal cremators to obtain approval for gas emission/waste
disposal from the environmental departments at the state, provincial or
city level; while in the United Kingdom, cremation of animal remains
must be carried out on premises approved by the authority concerned.
(h) As in other trades, operators of pet crematories have to comply with
the relevant legislation and lease conditions. We are of the view that
the existing legislation (including the Public Health and Municipal
Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), the APCO (Cap. 311), the Fire Services
Ordinance (Cap. 95) and the Dangerous Goods Ordinance (Cap. 295)) is
adequate for regulating the air pollution and public health issues that
may arise from the operation of pet cremators. The Administration has no
plan to set up a separate licensing system.
In general, pet carcasses are not regarded as clinical waste. Provided
that basic personal hygiene measures are taken, the risk of disease
transmission through pet carcasses is very low. Infectious diseases of
pets that are of serious concern to public health are uncommon. When
bringing pet carcasses to the FEHD for disposal, pet owners or the
relevant organisations should wrap up the pet carcasses properly in bags
and deliver them to the refuse collection points managed by the FEHD.
The pet carcasses will be safely disposed of as other municipal solid
waste at landfills, which are well designed in engineering terms to
guard against ground water and other contamination. We consider such
practices acceptable from the perspective of public health. Therefore,
the Government has no plan to provide public cremation services for
pets.
Ends/Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:31
NNNN