***********************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Environmental Campaign Committee:
With the approach of Christmas and New Year, everyone can enjoy the festive celebrations in an environmentally friendly way.
The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, today (December 20) visited Baptist Wing Lung Secondary School in Tuen Mun and joined the school's green Christmas party.
Mr Wong said at the event that everyone can celebrate festive occasions in a greener way by avoiding excessive use of festive decorations and reusing resources such as Christmas trees, preparing suitable portions of food according to the number of participants, using reusable tableware and containers, and carrying boxes for taking away leftovers.
Baptist Wing Lung Secondary School's Christmas party has been organised by teachers and students in an environmentally friendly way over the years. Green Prefects of the school shared their thoughts on green school life at today's event. After the party, Mr Wong visited the green facilities of the school, including an organic farm, a food waste composter and the Life and Sustainable Development Education Centre.
The Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) and the Environmental Protection Department launched the "Use Less, Waste Less on My Hand" charter earlier this month to promote the importance of sustainable use of resources. The charter was first introduced to the school sector to encourage students to follow environmentally sustainable practices in daily life. The ECC's Student Environmental Protection Ambassadors are also required to implement the principles of the charter, and to promote the charter amongst students, teachers, parents and the community in order to encourage others to participate in waste reduction at source and put the "use less, waste less" principle into practice.
At today's event, Mr Wong also shared with students the principles of the charter. They are:
* Use Less
* Eat Wise
* Shop Green
* Discard Less
* Recycle Wise
A series of activities and competitions will be held by the ECC from this month to June 2014 to enlist support from all secondary and primary school students in Hong Kong to put into practice the principles of the charter. Activities will include a video competition on the implementation of the "use less, waste less" principle in schools, the appointment of students to be ambassadors in promoting the "use less, waste less" principle in schools and the community so as to raise the number of participants and promote the action of waste reduction from schools to families as well as the community, and Outstanding Student Ambassador and graphic design competitions co-organised with the MTR Corporation.
Founded in 1990, the ECC aims to promote public awareness of environmental issues and encourage the public to contribute actively towards a better environment. It organises various environmental programmes each year, including the Student Environmental Protection Ambassador Scheme, the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence and the Hong Kong Green School Award. For more information about the programmes, please visit the ECC's Schools Go Green website (school.ecc.org.hk).
Ends/Friday, December 20, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:02
NNNN
