D
o we really see the trash and
debris lying around our city
and our shores, and do we
add to it ourselves? Sometimes
it takes a charity to make us think about
coming clean. The much-loved Hong
Kong Cleanup, now in its fifteenth year,
is nearly a household name these days,
having grown steadily year-on-year from
just 40 stalwart volunteers in 2000 to over
75,000 participants across the region in
2015.
Originally founded by Canadian
and long-term Hong Kong resident
Lisa Christensen, the aim of the annual
Cleanup is to “empower Hong Kong’s
population in actively reducing the
amount of trash we generate and taking
a role in cleaning up the city, in order to
create a paradigm shift and form a social
movement with long-lasting behavioural
change, getting us closer to a cleaner,
greener city.”
To help achieve this, for their fifteenth
anniversary, the Hong Kong Cleanup
aims to engage five per cent of the
population over one year, through not
only Cleanups and events, but also
active campaigns and social media.
Small beginnings
From the handful of friends who gathered
for the first, single-day Cleanup, the event
has expanded to a six-week challenge
covering not just Hong Kong’s extensive
coastline but also our country parks and
even urban areas. This expansion makes
it easy for anyone to participate – there’s
really no excuse! It also highlights that
ocean trash almost always originates on
land.
And it’s been a success so far: in 2015
the Hong Kong Cleanup Challenge
broke its own records yet again,
engaging 75,623 people in collecting
an estimated 4,616,067 kg (or 5,683,891
pieces) of rubbish, mostly from Hong
Kong’s valuable natural areas.
“The cleanup is only the beginning,”
highlights co-founder and event director
Nissa Marion. “Our ultimate end goal is
to put ourselves out of a job! We want
to eliminate the problem of trash that
plagues our ecosystems, and we believe
this is possible within our lifetime, through
citizen behaviour change supported by
zero waste goals, extended producer
responsibility and government policy.”
Global impact
Organised by Ecozine and The Nature
Conservancy, the Cleanup initiative is the
work of a small (yet passionate) team. It’s
made possible through sponsorship and
support from companies, schools, media
outlets, chambers of commerce, and
NGOs. The Hong Kong Cleanup is also
an integral part of Ocean Conservancy’s
International Coastal Cleanup, linking
local activities to a much larger global
movement, whilst sharing data and
learnings with organisations around the
world.
To boost its presence, the Hong
Kong Cleanup has had the support
of numerous celebrity ambassadors
including power couple Daniel and
Lisa Wu. “The Hong Kong Cleanup is a
great showcase of Hong Kong’s strong
spirit of community and collaboration,
and what a positive effect it has on the
environment when we all work together,”
says Daniel. To which Lisa adds, “With
over 75,000 people taking an active
role in cleaning up Hong Kong this year,
I am confident that awareness about
the importance of waste reduction will
continue to spread.”
So let’s all come clean and keep our
environment – both urban and rural –
litter free. To find out more, register a
Cleanup team or get involved, visit the
Hong Kong Cleanup Facebook page or
email
advice
Whilst we go about our daily lives in this increasingly hectic
city, we need to pause and consider the impact we are
having on our environment, writes
Gillian Johnston
.
Coming
clean
20
