For a city so incredibly desperate to appear cutting-edge in every area, Hong Kong seriously lags in the eco race, most glaringly when it comes to the role plastic plays in daily life. Research shows that a plastic bag takes anywhere between 10 and 1,000 years to decompose naturally and a water bottle 45 years, so it seems irresponsible to add to the problem by continuing to accept and use them. The world currently outputs upwards of 360 million tonnes of plastic, with a tenth of that ending up in the oceans.
On a local front, reports surfaced recently of plastic bottles collected in recycling bins being taken to the landfill. Talk about frustrating! Whilst we can certainly work towards overhauling this, for now, why not simply stop the problem at the source and avoid purchasing beverages in plastic bottles in the first place?
Solution: Bring your own reusable shopping bags, cutlery and bottles wherever possible. It will seem like a commitment at first, but once you get into the practice of saying “no” to plastic, it merely becomes habit and trust me, it’s difficult to go back! The key is to start slowly, without expectations, and build up from there; remembering every little bit counts.