LOCAL

Plastic, plastic, everywhere...

Suzanne Younan, founder of Green Dragons HK (GDHK), muses on environmental silver linings

After seeing the devastation that Typhoon Hato left behind in 2017, my life changed forever. Now fitted with inbuilt ‘plastic goggles’, I see plastic everywhere. It prompted me to create ‘Green Dragons HK’, a volunteer organisation raising awareness of plastic pollution in the dragon boat community. Trying to influence people to make small changes for the benefit of Hong Kong became my life’s work.

Being an avid nature lover and hiker I feel for all those people around the world who are currently under lockdown; not able to enjoy the great outdoors for however long. We are certainly lucky in Hong Kong right now.

A daily hike with my loyal hound keeps me fit and healthy and also up to date with the current situation in the country parks. Since the pandemic, I have never seen so many hikers! It seems that the whole of Hong Kong is keen to get outdoors and take advantage of the fresh air.

I see the odd snack wrapper and plastic bottle on the trails, but now masks feature daily. Not something that I’d noticed before the virus. Disposable masks have three layers, the outer one usually has some plastic content, the inner ones… well, let’s not think too much about the germs and possible bacteria! Naturally, even the most hardened

Repulse Bay

plastic picker like myself would hesitate to retrieve and dispose of them.

Unfortunately, the picnic areas are on another level of rubbish altogether. Monday mornings, after the picnickers have had their

fun at the weekend, are never my favoured time to walk. Seeing the mountains of rubbish left behind makes my blood boil. With the recent restrictions of the use of picnic areas in the country parks and at certain beaches, the rubbish has been at a minimum. This, in turn, has kept the wild animals and rodents at bay. Less ‘up close and personal’ contact with the wild boars is a positive in my book!

After a longer-than-wished-for visit to the UK earlier this year, I returned to Hong Kong amid the panic buying mode that had gripped the country. I noticed, and was certainly guilty of it for a time myself, that everyone was buying so much more than they would usually at the supermarkets. What I also noticed was that much of the loose fruit and vegetables were being overlooked for plastic-wrapped produce in the interests of supposed hygiene. The total opposite of what needs to change in Hong Kong shopping habits. Washing produce is a must and there is no guarantee that the plastic-wrapped varieties are any safer.

Harking back to the privilege of being able to go outside, I decided to walk from Deep Water Bay beach to three more on the Southside to check out the state of play. What surprised me the most was just how many people were on the beaches. It was Easter, but there were social distancing measures in place also! The holiday season, great weather and families coming together are certainly pushing people outside. More family time can only be good, as long as we are socially responsible.

One beach offered up many more masks than I had expected to see. Some on the beach, others floating on the waves lapping the shore.

Another was pristine but again packed with people. What was most evident was the lack of buses lining up to bring tourists to visit one of the prettiest beaches in Hong Kong. Very hard for the local businesses indeed, but the air was not filled with the black clouds of exhaust fumes.

Plastic pollution is still a huge problem for Hong Kong, perhaps even more so now with the spike in mask usage, convenience foods and the surge in takeaway food in plastic or styrofoam containers. Although necessary measures in these uncertain times, we can all still do our part. Ask yourself if there is another choice you can make and what you can do to help protect the environment; perhaps you can organise a safe, family beach or trail clean up, a neighbourhood community project of sewing some reusable masks or consider using containers from home to collect your own takeaway food?

The launch of GDHK’s new campaign ’20 ways to break up with plastic’ is coming soon; visit their website and Facebook page (GreenDragonsHK) to find out how you can make a difference in your community.

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