The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, and the Chairman of the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC), Professor Joseph Sung, yesterday (January 22) visited the Green Lunar New Year (LNY) Fair at Fa Hui Park, Mong Kok. They called on stall operators and members of the public to support green initiatives by conserving resources and reducing waste during festive LNY celebrations.
The Fa Hui Park Green LNY Fair is jointly orgainsed by the ECC, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the non-government organisation (NGO) Green Come True. An interactive education and promotional booth has been set up to promote green messages at the fair. Shopping bag sharing stands have also been set up at the fair for members of the public to pick up reusable shopping bags to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags. Green Ambassadors are deployed on-site to guide fair visitors and stall operators on how to practise proper waste separation and clean recycling. Reusable tableware lending services are also available at the fair to encourage members of the public to go plastic-and-disposable-free. A number of stall operators have already joined the "Green Stall Scheme" and have pledged to implement a series of green measures including waste reduction at source, recycling and resource sharing. The ECC, EPD and collaborating NGOs, green groups and tertiary institutions are also running similar environmental education and promotion activities at the remaining 14 LNY fairs across the territory.
Other officers/members attending the event included Permanent Secretary for the Environment/Director of Environmental Protection, Ms Maisie Cheng, as well as members of the ECC and its Publicity Working Group. All made use of the reusable tableware lending services when buying food at the food stalls. They also appealed to the public to bring the "six green must-haves" (namely water bottles, food containers, reusable cutlery, reusable straws, handkerchiefs and reusable shopping bags) when visiting the LNY fairs as well as using them in their daily lives to support waste reduction at source.
On recycling, apart from the collection of waste paper, plastic and metal at all LNY fairs, the EPD, as it did last year, separately appointed contractors to collect and recycle items including yard waste, wooden pallets, polyfoam and food waste (as applicable). To enhance recycling of resources, the EPD has appointed an additional "Mobile Recycling Team" this year to assist in the collection, sorting and handling of various types of recyclables, as well as to provide a convenient door-to-door collection service for the stall operators.
At the end of the LNY fairs, a "Resources Sharing Corner" will be set up in all fair venues to collect unsold goods and leftover materials (such as canvas, marquees, tables and chairs, shelves and sandbags) from stall operators for on-site distribution or redistribution to others after the fair. The bamboo sticks from the scaffolding of fair stalls will also be collected by EPD contractors to be recycled into mulch for composting, planting and similar uses, or will be delivered to interested groups or farms for further use. The collected general food waste and coconut shells will be delivered separately to the Organic Resources Recovery Centre Phase 1 and the Animal Waste Composting Plant under the EPD for further treatment.
The ECC and EPD hope that the above measures can continue to reduce the amount of waste generated by the operation of LNY fairs and enhance the overall quality and quantity of recyclables through a multi-pronged approach.
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