Shop less and reduce, reuse and recycle this Christmas: how to reverse the cycle of buying and dumping in a landfill
- People in Hong Kong can do their bit for the environment by giving away unwanted items; one way is through the Reduce Reuse Recycle Free Hong Kong Facebook page
- Everything we buy has a carbon cost, so we need to change our shopping habits to reduce waste, say environmentalists
A slightly marked white sofa bed; a pair of cream-coloured patent leather shoes (size 40); boxes of N95 masks; bags of peanuts in the shell (“no expiry date, consume at your own risk”); gravel for a fish tank or plant pot – these free items were all recently listed on the Reduce Reuse Recycle Free Hong Kong page on Facebook.
Members give away things they no longer need and don’t want to go to waste. We can all make a difference. “Thanks for helping us reduce Hong Kong’s staggering 15,000 tonnes of daily landfill!”, the group notes on the page. Several listings are posted each week by the group’s 2,500 members, who give away unwanted stuff out of goodwill and concern for the environment.
Giveaway and swap social media groups all over the world have seen a surge of interest from people who fear that excessive consumption and waste spells environmental disaster.
The spending blitz of the past decade was given an extra push by the pandemic, when billions of shoppers were locked down or socially restricted and went online to browse Amazon, eBay and other sites, and buy, buy, buy.
Now Christmas, the festival of spending, is coming and the corporate world is hoping for a big year after the disaster of the Covid-19 pandemic.
No-one wants to be a party pooper, but environmentalists fear a lot of the stuff about to be bought, wrapped and given to loved ones in Hong Kong at Christmas will soon be on the way to one of the city’s bulging landfills.
