Waste Not, Want Not: Part 2 - Environment Protection Department

Initial broadcast - 8:00 pm Friday August 28, 2015

To listen to the show's initial broadcast, please visit RTHK's DAB 31.

To listen to the show after the initial broadcast, please visit the archive here. (Skip to 7m15s!)

We are so addicted to trash in Hong Kong that we will soon have to build an incinerator to burn our excessive waste. So, I wanted to learn more about what the government (the Environmental Protection Department) is doing to reduce our waste by improving recycling. In today’s episode we sit down with Mr. Wong Hon Meng of the EPD to discuss recycling and waste education. Mr. Wong talks about the importance of the recycling industry, and how the EPD is supplying funds in various manners to help encourage the industry. He explains how after you throw something into the recycling bin, there is a whole process stream to collect, sort, and then send off our recyclables. 

There are a few useful tips about how we as individuals can improve the situation. We also discuss plastics and why it’s so challenging to make use of recycled plastic. All in all, while the episode talks about what the EPD is doing, I believe the EPD is simply not on track to improve this dire waste situation in Hong Kong. They are not putting pressure on shops and businesses to reduce the packaging they provide, and they simply do not make sufficient effort to help educate and encourage the public to recycle. Waste management and recycling in Hong Kong is simply a mess. As a result, we have to build a dioxin-causing, polluting incinerator on a beautiful island. Come on EPD -- you MUST do better!!!

What Can Be Better?

(Photo by K. Davies)

Plastic Bottle Deposit System: In the episode, I point out that plastics don’t really have a value. Mr. Wong notes, for example, that paper and metal is widely recycled in Hong Kong, because “old people” go around and collect these materials to bring to shops to get money. While plastic has a lesser value to the recycling industry, the EPD needs to step up and give it an “artificial” value: a deposit. If plastic drink bottles had a deposit (e.g. $5), the public would be encouraged to return them to a proper place to be recycled. Instead, to the public the plastic has no value and it is treated poorly: left on streets, thrown in the ample orange trash bins. As a result, all these plastic bottles are ending up in our landfills and in our oceans, which you can easily see by visiting any beach. Just think of how many beaches would be instantly cleaned by “old people” if all the plastic bottles could be returned for some change! Of course it will take time to set up a deposit system, but in the meantime, instead of giving taxpayers money back, why not create some stations and pay a small sum of money for plastic bottles?

Vote for Green Hong Kong!

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Every vote helps! :)

Waste Not, Want Not: Part 1 (Ep. 6)

Initial broadcast - 8:00 pm Friday August 21, 2015

To listen to the show's initial broadcast, please visit RTHK's DAB 31.

To listen to the show after the initial broadcast, please visit the archive here.

(Photo by Gary Verstick)

Hong Kong is facing a major waste crisis. Our earth is facing a major waste crisis. We begin this episode by visiting an isolated beach near Kennedy Town with Gary Verstick. Gary explains how no one visits this beach, the piles of rubbish come from the sea, which is a major issue facing all of our oceans. To learn more about why this disaster is happening and what we can do about it, I sat down with Nissa Marion, co-founder of the Hong Kong Cleanup Challenge and Ecozine Magazine. Nissa shares how in Hong Kong we produce the equivalent to 250,000 double-decker buses worth of trash each year, which is 50 times the number of buses we actually have! All this trash is being permanently “parked” in our landfills (NENT, SENT, and WENT), and they simply can’t keep it up! Soon a polluting incinerator will be built to help burn this trash, and, if it’s not going into these “proper” places, it’s ending up in our seas!

How did we become so trashy?

This is an issue very close to my heart, and I don’t even know why! In our modern lives, we have evolved to have a terrible system for transporting the goods that give us comfortable lives: packaging! Every day we buy and consume things, and then throw away the packaging or products without thinking twice about it. But all of these things have to go somewhere. In Hong Kong we have a very efficient waste management system: you never have to see or smell your rubbish again after you throw it away. It magically “disappears”! But sadly, most packaging never really disappears. A plastic bottle may need up to 500 years to decompose in a landfill.

Green Youth (Ep. 5)

Initial broadcast - 8:00 pm Friday August 14, 2015

To listen to the show, please visit the archive here.

(Photo by Su Tsz Ki)

For this episode, we wanted to learn about what efforts young people in Hong Kong are doing to lead a more eco-friendly lifestyle and make Hong Kong greener. We sat down with Su Tsz Ki (Suki), who is an undergraduate at the University of Hong Kong and member of the HKU Greenwoods Society. She shares with us her work to establish a composting system at HKU's New College dormitory and transform their podium level into a vegetable garden using their food waste. Suki is very passionate about education, and we joined her and other Greenwoods members at an educational event for young people of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servant Society. On HKU's Rooftop Farm we talk with the HKCCSS children about environmental issues. These young people truly give hope that the next generation will establish a green-minded society.

How to Get Involved?
Suki mentioned how much she enjoys being a vegetarian, and she encouraged others to try! Vegetables are much more sustainable to grow than animals, and even just one or two vegetarian meals a week helps reduce the environmental footprint meat creates. Here's a helpful list of vegetarian food blogs with ideas. Kathryn's favorite vegetarian pasta recipe is here (can be made with in-season eggplants instead of celery and carrots!)

Ark Eden on Lantau offers many internships, workshops, and educational opportunities. They have a farm, eco-centers, and take people out to explore nature! It's a great place to start getting engaged with the Hong Kong's environment!

Credits
A special thank you to:
Suki, Su Tsz Ki
Youth from the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servant Society

Kathryn Davies - Producer & Host
Music by Kodomo (Red Giant) and Arnold Bax (Oboe Quintet)

From Wild to Domestic (Ep. 4)

Initial broadcast - 8:00 pm Friday August 7, 2015

To listen to the show's initial broadcast, please visit here and click on the headphone icon.

To listen to the show after the initial broadcast, please visit the archive here.

In this episode, we begin look at the living beings that inhabit our earth, and we start with animals!

(Photo by K. Davies)

We wanted to learn more about wild and domestic animals in Hong Kong, so we went to the SPCA and had the opportunity to talk with Fiona Woodhouse (Deputy Director of Animal Welfare), Lucy Wong (Foster Parent Coordinator), and Calais Sin (Cat Colony Care Program Coordinator). Fiona tells us about the broad range of their work with all kinds of animals, as well as some background information about types of wild animals in Hong Kong and some of the different categories of animals. Encouragingly, she talks about some good new legislation being discussed to help put an end to the awful pet trade in Hong Kong. Lucy Wong tells us about how we can get involved by fostering animals, and we briefly discuss the Cat Colony Care Program (CCCP) work to help reduce the number of unwanted animals.

There are so many animals in shelters across Hong Kong that are in need of loving homes. There are all kinds of animals to chose from, and, I find, that shelter animals always recognize the loving act that you’ve done by saving their life: they are so loving back! By adopting animals from shelters, you helping to reduce the populations of unwanted cats and dogs on Hong Kong’s streets and in our country parks, which helps protect the wildlife!

How to Help Animals

As Fiona mentions, one of the best ways to help is to offer your home to an animal in need: adopt an animal from a shelter! If you’re not ready to adopt, you can also foster animals for a short period of time. You can also just volunteer or donate to animal organizations. There’s many ways you can help them!

Here are some organizations doing work to help animals in Hong Kong:

SPCA

LAP (Lifelong Animal Protection Charity)

Hong Kong Dog Rescue

PALS (Protection of Animals Lantau South)

Sai Kung Stray Friends (Note: they have faced particular challenges over having to move and can use extra help!)

Hong Kong Alleycat Watch (Note: they have some useful information/resources on their website!)

Kirsten’s Zoo
Linda's Cat and Dog House

More About Fostering

Foster Kitten Clyde (photo by: K. Davies)

I got involved with fostering after I met Calais Sin, when I went to show her a cat colony in a country park. I was so skeptical at first, because I didn’t want to get attached to a kitten! I didn’t feel I was in a position to adopt any animals, either, but she really encouraged me to try. Some 15 foster kittens later, I still love it!

They SPCA provides good support: food, litter, vet expenses, and you can return the animal at any time if it doesn’t work out for you. Sometimes the kittens need medicine or extra attention, but it’s very rewarding to see them recover and become happy, healthy little kittens! And let’s be honest, they are just so darn cute!

To get involved with fostering, please just call and leave a message with Lucy Wong and she’ll get back with you. Many of the other organizations listed above also need foster parents to help animals recovering from surgery or illness or in-transition.

Fostering is a wonderful way to enjoy the company of an animal while helping to make a good contribution to these animal welfare organizations and the happiness of the animal.

Key Vocabulary

Cat Colony Care Program - 貓隻領域護理計劃

Trap Neuter Return - 捕捉、絶育、放回

fostering - 暫養

foster parent - 暫養家庭

animal welfare legislation - 立法保障動物福利

domesticated animals - ​ 家畜​

feral - ​野生​

stray - 流浪​

feral cattle (in HK) - ​ ​野生牛隻

buffalo - 水牛​

civet cat - ​靈貓​

badger -​ 獾​

porcupine​ - 豪豬​

barking deer - 麂​

bad breeder - 無良繁殖​

pet shops - 寵物店​

appalling conditions -​ 惡劣的繁殖環境​