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South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Dragon boat races and the like must have proper waste management plans
Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@ or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification Ahead of World Environment Day today, it was very disappointing to see the general lack of concern regarding waste at the Stanley dragon boat races last Saturday. Plastic Free Seas did the best we could with a last-minute mini collection to salvage at least some of the plastic bottles and metal cans for recycling, but only a small number of people brought them to us. We collected only 963 drink bottles and 758 drink cans, which is a fraction of what would have been used throughout the day. For the past few years, Sun Life, as a sponsor of the event, engaged The Green Earth to do a large-scale collection of recyclables at the Stanley races. Unfortunately, Sunlife was not the sponsor this year and recycling did not appear to be a priority at the event. Many plastic bottles (which should have been avoided in the first place), cans and cardboard boxes ended up going to landfill unnecessarily this year. It is unimaginable that such a large gathering of people for an outdoor event, particularly one at the beach, can be allowed to happen without convenient and sufficient provision of water refills and proper waste management in place. In order to reduce waste from these types of events, we strongly recommend the following.
South China Morning Post
03-03-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
Feature of the Week: Anna and Mira's Lamma Island beach clean-up
Do you have something to share? Send us your letters using this form In December, the Grade Six students from German Swiss International School went to Lamma Island to clean up the beach with Hong Kong-based NGO Plastic Free Seas. We started by putting all the plastic from the beach into garbage bags. We focused mainly on disposable cutlery and straws because Plastic Free Seas wanted to see if their usage decreases after being banned in Hong Kong. Therefore, we separated all the disposable cutlery into one basket and the straws into another one. We also collected plastic bottles and cans separately to check their origin. Ultimately, we collected 74kg of rubbish, from toothbrushes to bigger things like barrels and pallets, and 193 bottles from all over Asia. Afterwards, we put all the rubbish in one spot near the beach so the government could easily collect it. Overall, it was a lovely experience to learn about plastic pollution and how to protect our environment. Also, it was great to take action and help the planet.
