Plastic Free July, a campaign led by the Plastic Free Foundation, kicks off next week, challenging people to do away single-use plastics for an entire month.
According to the foundation, 2,000 tonnes of plastic, which amounts to 20 percent of Hong Kong’s overall waste, is sent to landfills every day. Plastic cutlery and takeaway containers make up the bulk of that total. Another 17 million pieces of plastic waste are washed into the ocean via the Shing Mun River every year. Even worse? Hongkongers throw away 5.2 million plastic bottles every single day.
Last year’s challenge saw 120 million people taking part across the world. Collectively, they helped prevent nearly 500 million kg of plastic waste from going to landfills. The Plastic Free Foundation hopes to do even better this year.
If you’re interested in joining the fight against single-use plastics, here’s how you can start: refuse plastic straws for beverages, carry a reusable cup that your coffee, water or tea can be poured into, opt to dine in or eat out at one of the city’s sustainable restaurants, bring your own reusable containers instead of relying on takeaway containers, take a tote bag with you when you go shopping, buy your grains and herbs in bulk from one of Hong Kong’s zero waste stores and store those goods in your own containers.
For more information, you can visit plasticfreejuly.org. Happy saving!