The EPD aims to gain community support for a wide range of environmental initiatives. We do this by reaching out to the community in several ways. We give talks and workshops to various organisations. We organise environmental education and awareness projects for schools, community groups, District Councils, corporations, government departments, and others. We serve as advisors and adjudicators on community environmental programmes. And we advise private and public organisations on corporate environmental strategies and environmental awareness programmes. One of our biggest efforts concerns waste reduction and we have introduced several campaigns to promote waste separation and recycling among the general public.

Photo showing exhibition to promote waste recycling

Community Relations Unit

The Community Relations Unit (CRU) is the main co-ordinator of the EPD's community education programmes. In 2002 it organised more than 389 programmes, delivered 423 talks and worked with more than 2 500 organisations, including 12 District Councils. It also organised 114 guided tours of the EPD's Visitors Centre for over 2 800 local and overseas visitors.

The CRU also serves as secretariat to the government-appointed Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC), which promotes and encourages community involvement in environmental protection.

Campaigns

Photo of waste recycling campaign in housing estate

The ECC's largest campaign is the Waste Recycling Campaign in Housing Estates, which has been operating since March 1998. The campaign has helped to introduce waste separation and recycling to public and private housing estates all over Hong Kong. Waste paper, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are placed in colour-coded bins and collected regularly for recycling. By the end of 2002, 1 200 public and private housing estates participated in the campaign, up from 1 000 in early 2001.

Two other campaigns are held annually. The Hong Kong Environmental Protection Festival runs for several weeks in November and December. In 2002 the festival focused on reducing waste, supporting clean air programmes and helping to protect our water resources. More than 28 000 people attended the opening day on 3 November 2002. The ECC also organises celebrations for World Environment Day every June 5, which in 2002 focused on "Green Community, Green Living". The opening day on 2 June 2002 attracted more than 21 000 people. The event was co-ordinated for the third time with the Environmental Protection Bureaux of Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Zhongshan and the Macau Environment Council.

Schools

Photo of educating students about waste separation

The Waste Separation and Recycling Scheme in Schools is similar to the Waste Recycling Campaign in Housing Estates, in that it promotes recycling of waste paper, aluminium cans and plastic bottles. The scheme began in 1999 and by the end of 2002, 1 194 primary and secondary schools had received colour-coded waste separation bins, funded mostly by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The scheme was adapted for pre-schoolers in 2002. With sponsorship from the Zonta Club of the New Territories, pre-schools received smaller versions of the bins intended for demonstration and teaching about waste separation. By the end of the year, more than 680 pre-schools had ordered the bins.

Students and schools are also encouraged to participate in the Schools Environmental Award Scheme cum Student Environmental Protection Ambassador Scheme. By the end of 2002, 666 schools and 11 206 students were participating, up from 599 schools and 9 892 students in 2001. The schemes aim to cultivate a sense of responsibility towards the environment among students and schools. The mentor for the scheme is the Environmental Affairs Officer of the United Nations Environment Programme - Asia and the Pacific Region , Mr Mahesh Pradhan, who visited Hong Kong in March. Environmental Protection Ambassador Schemes have also been organised for Scouts, Girl Guides, Junior Police Call, Lion Clubs, Rotary Clubs, Zonta Clubs, the elderly and for housing estate residents and staff of property management companies.

Another avenue for promoting environmental protection in schools is the Green School Awards scheme. It was launched in 2000 to encourage school managers to introduce environmental management systems and involve the entire school community in green efforts. In 2002, 178 primary and secondary schools participated in the competition.

Schools and community groups are being offered direct assistance in organising green activities through our new Environmental Education and Information Counter, which opened in August 2002. The counter, located in Revenue Tower, loans out environmental display panels, games, leaflets, videos, CD-Roms and other environmental education materials for free.

The ECC also joined forces during the year with the State Environmental Protection Administration of China to organise the Nation-wide Environmental Competition for youths in the Mainland. More than 600 000 mainland students participated in the programme and the winners attended an exchange programme in Hong Kong.

Photo of EPD's Environmental Education and Information Counter

Other Community Activities

• The CRU organised two major exhibitions in 2002. One celebrated 25 years of environmental protection in Hong Kong and featured 94 workshop sessions for students over three days in July. The second was the Clean Air Exhibition, which attracted 21 000 people to a one-day event in March.
  
  
• Environmental Resource Centres are multi-media centres that provide the public with easy access to environmental education. Two centres are located in Wanchai and Tsuen Wan. In 2001 the Mobile Environmental Resource Centre was launched. This was supplemented with a "Green Desk" in 2002, which is set up alongside the mobile centre so passersby can ask questions and get more information about environmental protection. The Green Desk is also brought along for visits under the Community Green Network Programme, which was also launched in 2002. EPD officers visit housing estates in the evening to give talks to residents and answer questions relating to environmental protection. They visited 82 estates during the year.
  
  
• The fourth annual Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards attracted 193 organisations in four categories: Green Office Award (Large Organisations), Green Office Award (Small and Medium Enterprises), Green Property Management Award (Private Housing) and Green Innovative Practice. The award was jointly organised by the ECC, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Hong Kong Productivity Council. It is designed to honour businesses in Hong Kong that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental management. The intention in 2002 was to encourage more small and medium sized organisations to participate.

Press Releases and Publications

We place much emphasis on making environmental information widely available to the general public. Press releases are issued regularly and we are increasingly making use of the Internet to disseminate information.

• Weekly press releases on water quality at gazetted bathing beaches are issued to the media. The press releases and reports on beach water quality are uploaded on the EPD website.
  
  
• Hourly Air Pollution Indexes have been issued since July 1999 via the EPD website and a telephone hotline. Daily API forecasts and hourly API reports are issued to the media.
  
  
• Statistics on environmental prosecutions brought by the EPD are released to the media on a monthly basis. A list of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) that are either in progress or about to start is released quarterly to the media. The EIA reports, and the Director of Environmental Protection's decisions on the reports, are placed on the EPD website.
  
  
• Monitoring data for rivers and streams and marine waters are published in separate annual reports, as are air and beach water monitoring data.

In addition, we produced 71 publications in 2002 ranging from publicity and training materials to guidelines explaining our new services and initiatives. Most publications and other information we release can be viewed on our website http://www.epd.gov.hk/.

In recognition of the important role the media plays in disseminating environmental messages, we organised media visits to a collection point for used mobile phone batteries and to the North West New Territories Refuse Transfer Station in 2002. This gave journalists a first-hand look at the EPD's work. We also handled 6 040 press enquiries, issued 206 press releases, organised nine press conferences and briefings, and arranged 99 press interviews.