What Do You do for The Environment?
Reduce.
Reuse.
Recycle.
Do any of these words ring a bell?
Well, if you were brought up in the 90’s, or even in the 2000’s, you were most probably taught about the 3Rs of recycling: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Now, let’s look more closely into our daily lives. Do you do anything to help protect the environment? You may think you already do enough by categorizing the waste in your household according to the correct triage system.
Or you might go “above and beyond” and opt for a shower instead of the bathtub. But you can always in fact go further. You can by all means go the extra mile by choosing to shower faster.
Here is another simple trick to help reduce the use of water in your household: put a brick in the toilet tank. This way, when the tank fills up to its fullest, it will require less water – the volume of the brick.
Now, let’s look around the world… Did you know that the recycling system in Hong Kong is more laid back than that of Canada? The average Hongkonger does not even care about the simple act of recycling and protecting our environment, let alone building and conserving a greener living space for future generations.
The city does leave large triage bins (for plastics, metal and paper) to give the general public a means to recycle, however, if you look more closely at these bins, you will notice that these bins are often quite quickly filled.
And they are not with recyclable material, but with waste which cannot be recycled – dirty plastic food packaging and paper too glossy to be deemed right for recycling. Such a disgrace!
Throughout the past two months in Hong Kong, a lot has happened. This news has been spreading around the globe.
And a question is raised: if Hongkongers care so much about their political and social situations, why don’t they give as much tender love and care to their living environment, even when the phenomenon of noise and air pollution is severe around the entire city?
Recently, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Ms. Carrie Lam, has finally withdrawn the extradition law which was the centre of the recent social unrest. This was the result of two months of persistence and determination of the entire Hong Kong population.
If only Hongkongers were as persistent and determined about their recycling system…
There is a hole in our planet’s ozone layer and global warming is an alarming issue. Our world needs each and every citizen to make an effort to combat this ever-growing problem.
Written by: Yvonne Y. F. Kelle
