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The Environmental
Protection Department's (EPD) mission is to treat and prevent pollution.
But in order to carry out this mission successfully, we need the
community's understanding and support. Appeals and advertising campaigns
have helped to raise awareness, but the greatest impacts have come
through a more direct approach - by reaching out. Environmental
programmes have been established for every sector of society and
have helped to change the habits of many people, especially in regard
to waste separation and recycling.
When our first
outreach programmes started in the early 1990s, environmental awareness
was low and there were no large-scale recycling programmes. Few
schools, business groups or community groups were carrying out environmental
activities. Today, after a decade of venturing into the community,
the situation is reversed: most sectors of society are recycling
and many are initiating their own green events. Reaching out has
helped to bring the community into the green fold.
The year 2003
was a special milestone in the department's outreach efforts, for
it marked the 10th anniversary of the first Environmental Resource
Centre. These centres place access to information about the environment
firmly in the community. The first centre opened in Wan Chai in
December 1993 and was followed by the establishment of centres in
Tsuen Wan in 1997 and Fanling in 2003. They feature environmental
activities, games and general information for the public, and they
have become very popular, with visits or tours booked months in
advance. But while the centres serve their neighbourhoods well,
their reach is limited by being in a fixed location. The EPD, together
with the government-appointed Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC)
which organises community-based green activities, therefore have
introduced several initiatives to bring environmental activities
to places where people gather, such as housing estates and shopping
malls.
A
Mobile Environmental Resource Centre started operating in 2001 which
features all of the activities and resources available in the fixed
centres. It is the first liquefied petroleum gas van and also has
room for a "green desk" where students, housewives and
other residents can obtain specific information for school projects,
home management and other uses, and have their questions answered.
A green desk is also featured in the Community Green Network Programme,
established in 2002, in which EPD officers visit housing estates
in the late afternoon and early evening to answer residents' questions
and discuss any concerns they may have, such as waste recycling
arrangements. In 2003 we gave 106 talks in this context attended
by more than 2 200 residents.
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The Fanling
Environmental Resource Centre opened in 2003 and is the largest
centre yet, at about 400 square metres. It is fitted out with
furniture mostly made from recyclable materials and has a
mural at its entrance that was created from waste construction
materials by Student Environmental Protection Ambassadors.
Among its many features are interactive games, models on how
to reduce pollution, demonstrations of noise pollution, a
fuel cell battery, a solar energy display and photographs
and materials donated by explorer Dr Rebecca Lee.
Meanwhile,
the Wan Chai Environmental Resource Centre celebrated its
10th anniversary by introducing special programmes on waste
reduction, paper-making and games, and producing a guide booklet
on a nearby trail. "Exploring the Wan Chai Trail"
describes the plants and species that can be seen on the 45-minute
walk. In addition to the resource centres, the EPD runs an
Environmental Education and Information Counter that provides
schools and community organisations with displays, games and
other materials for organising their own green events. |
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Further
expansion of our community outreach work is hampered only by a lack
of resources. The EPD and ECC do not have enough staff to educate
and organise everyone in the community. They therefore have put much
effort into capacity building and training the trainers, such as Environmental
Protection Ambassadors, and setting up participatory programmes that
do not require a large network of support staff.
The idea of
training trainers began in the schools, with programmes aimed at
engaging students in environmental activities. The Student Environmental
Protection Ambassador Scheme invites primary and secondary school
students to organise and participate in green activities on campus.
They receive training and write reports about their work, and the
best efforts are rewarded with a trip overseas or an environmental
leadership summer camp, so they can learn more about environmental
protection activities elsewhere and enhance their leadership abilities.
The scheme started in 1995 with 220 schools and 1 659 Student Environmental
Protection Ambassadors (SEPAs) and by the end of 2003 had grown
to 724 participating schools and 11 907 SEPAs (see box on "Environmental
Education" for details). The work of SEPAs is enhanced by teacher
training courses, which equip teachers with the knowledge and skills
to better deliver environmental messages to students.
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Schools
and tertiary institutions are a major focus of the EPD's and
ECC's community programmes. The Student Environmental Protection
Ambassador (SEPA) Scheme now has 11 907 primary and secondary
school student ambassadors. In 2003, SEPAs organised school-based
activities for about 400 000 students. Some of the outstanding
ambassadors went to Bangkok to learn about environmental protection
there, and others joined an environmental leadership summer
camp to polish their leadership skills. In addition, the ECC
and EPD organised seven workshops for teachers on various
environmental themes.
Other
organisations have joined forces with the ECC in school-based
campaigns. The MTR Corporation has joined with the ECC for
the past two years to sponsor an environmental leadership
programme for SEPAs and ambassadors from the Scouts, Girl
Guides and Junior Police Call. The AEON Education and Environment
Fund supported the Bangkok environmental study visit for Outstanding
SEPAs in summer 2003. The ECC and Shell Hong Kong Limited
have jointly organised an awards scheme to recognise the environmental
efforts of tertiary students in Hong Kong and youths in the
Mainland since 1997-98. In 2003, nine student clubs from tertiary
and vocational institutes in Hong Kong received financial
support to organise environmental programmes on their campuses
and competed for the ECC Shell Environmental Awards for Tertiary
and Vocational Institutes. Similar support was given to institutions
across the border. Also in 2003, the ECC co-operated with
the State Environmental Protection Administration to launch
the Nation-wide Competition on Environmental Protection Web
Page Design for primary and secondary school students on the
Mainland. An exchange programme was organised which included
a study visit to Hangzhou for winners from Hong Kong, while
winners from the Mainland came to Hong Kong to visit points
of environmental interest and meet with students in Hong Kong.
The ECC also worked with Hong Kong Disneyland in 2003 to organise
the "Jiminy Cricket's Environmentality Challenge"
for primary schools, with the winning class to be invited
to a special "Heroes" award ceremony in Hong Kong
Disneyland in 2006.
Apart
from promoting general environmental education, the ECC organises
activities for targeted purposes. A waste recycling campaign
has been introduced in pre-schools, primary and secondary
schools, and tertiary and vocational institutes. The Hong
Kong Green School Award has been established for primary and
secondary schools to encourage wider practice of environmental
management in schools, with the cash prizes sponsored by the
Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. for building resource centres
or organic farms. This award was extended to pre-schools in
2003. A programme was also organised in 2003 to promote appreciation
of nature and organic composting, by asking students to grow
cherry tomato plants in pots made from recyclable materials
and encouraging schools to plant native tree species on their
grounds. This programme was jointly organised with the Kadoorie
Farm and Botanic Garden and the Hong Kong Trees Conservation
Association, with support from the AEON Education and Environment
Fund and sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden
Mile.
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The success
of the student ambassador scheme led the ECC to extend the concept
to youth groups such as the Girl Guides and Scouts, and to the general
community. Elderly ambassadors were appointed in 2000. Property
managers and residents of housing estates were appointed in 2001.
They are provided with training in such things as how to carry out
waste recycling campaigns, keep the environment clean and organise
activities for residents. During 2003 the EPD worked with the Hang
Seng Bank to train employees to be green ambassadors within the
company. The intention is that all ambassadors will use their training
to help educate their peers about green knowledge and practices.
More targeted
training has also been carried out for specific stakeholders, through
the Green Leader Programme which ended in March 2003. About 10 000
stakeholders in 10 fields - commerce and industry, transport, the
District Councils, non-government and community organisations, teachers
and principals, women's groups, business and services, youth centres,
the Owners' Corporations and Mutual Aid Committees of housing estates
and green groups - were involved. They learned about such things
as introducing environmental management systems into their organisations
and setting up waste recycling programmes. Moreover, in 2003 more
than 2 000 civil servants attended 135 environmental education sessions
on such topics as environmental legislation and control, environmental
impact assessment, environmental management, sustainable development
and renewable energy.
Central to all
of our training programmes is the message that everyone must reduce
waste. This is a major concern for the EPD and Hong Kong, which
is faced with a landfill shortage as described in the Waste chapter.
More significantly from a community awareness standpoint, it is
an area where individuals can make a difference. The EPD and ECC
have supported this message by putting in place an extensive system
that enables people to separate their waste for recycling.

The Waste Recycling
Campaign in Housing Estates first began as a two month pilot project
in March 1998, at a time when few households participated in recycling.
Although business and industry had long been engaged in recycling,
domestic recycling was almost non-existent. The ECC therefore arranged
for recycling bins to be placed in 41 participating estates, for
waste paper and aluminium cans. It also provided publicity leaflets
and support for promotional activities.
The pilot project was hugely successful and the campaign has grown
rapidly and steadily ever since. From mid-2000 onwards, the recycling
programme was extended to include plastic bottles. New housing estates
join the campaign every year and by the end of 2003, 1 333 housing
estates with 1.58 million households were recycling. The quantities
of waste collected have also continued to increase and in 2003,
no less than 146 000 tonnes of waste paper, 9 000 tonnes of aluminium
cans and 1 000 tonnes of plastic bottles were collected for recycling.
Significantly, people's awareness and use of the recycling bins
is also increasing, as shown in recent surveys.
Following the
success of the housing estate campaign, the ECC introduced waste
recycling initiatives in other places in Hong Kong. Recycling bins
have been placed in 1 199 primary and secondary schools, with funding
chiefly from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. Since the
launch of the scheme in 2000, almost every school in Hong Kong has
been involved. Pre-schools are also joining the recycling drive.
Miniature bins have been provided to 870 pre-schools to educate
young children about separating waste, funded by the Zonta Club
of the New Territories.
Community and
green groups are also taking up the waste initiative by organising
recycling for hard-to-reach places, such as villages and older neighbourhoods
that are not organised in estates. Since 2001 $13.82 million from
the government's Environment and Conservation Fund has been given
to 24 community and green groups to organise more than 40 waste
recovery projects. These groups are also organising recycling for
items not covered by the housing estate campaign, such as inkjet
toners, dry waste and food waste.
The success
of the recycling programme has helped to show how community outreach
can make a difference. Schools, housing estates and others have
been given the means and support to recycle, and they are doing
so in greater numbers than ever. Many of them have staff or residents
who are now equipped with the skills to promote recycling and other
environmental initiatives in their organisations. The EPD's and
ECC's efforts to educate and train people, and reach out into the
community, have taken time to make an impact, but they are bearing
fruit. The onus for environmental protection has moved on from being
the responsibility of the EPD, to one that everybody shares.
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| Reaching
Out | Resource Materials on Community Awareness
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