Li Jing

    vivianmuzi@hotmail.com

    THE sky over Futian and Luohu districts in Shenzhen was filled with dense black smoke accompanied by a foul smell yesterday afternoon. The smell lasted well into the evening.

    The smoke was caused by burning waste on the Hong Kong side, Shenzhen firefighting authorities said on their official microblog yesterday.

    According to Hong Kong TV reports and online news, a fire broke out in a waste-recycling field in Fanling, the New Territories. Explosions were also reported.

    Photos posted on microblogs showed dense smoke billowing from the Hong Kong side and spreading towards Shenzhen.

    Guo Qiang, who lives in the Lianhuabei housing estate in Futian, said the smoke smelled like burning plastic. Another woman, Qin Xue, said she felt sick after smelling the smoke.

    The fire reportedly started at 3 p.m. yesterday and firefighters raised the fire alert to Level Three one and a half hours later. Residents nearby were evacuated.

    Most waste-recycling fields in Hong Kong are located in the New Territories near the border with Shenzhen, where the farmlands are privately owned and rent prices are low. Around five to six severe fires break out in these waste-recycling fields each year, with burning plastic a particular source of pollution, media reports said.

    Hong Kong gave up plans of building an incineration plant in Tuen Mun in 2011 after the proposal sparked protests from both Tuen Mun and Shenzhen residents. The incineration plant would have been only 4 kilometers from Shenzhen’s border. In 2012, Hong Kong began building a funeral center near Luohu Checkpoint, which also led to strong objections by Shenzhen residents.

    In September last year, the outbreak of fire in a waste-recycling yard in Ta Kwu Ling of Hong Kong sent heavy smoke over Luohu and Futian districts accompanied by a foul smell.

    In June 2014, a fire at a used electronic products recycling facility in the New Territory sent dense smoke across the border.