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The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, joined the Clean Shorelines Day held at Shek O Beach today (July 5) and called on members of the public to join hands in keeping shorelines clean and conserving marine ecology in order to protect the beauty of Hong Kong's marine environment.
At the event's launch ceremony, Mr Wong said that with its theme of "Protect our coast, leave no trace" the event aimed to emphasise the importance of reducing marine refuse and keeping our shorelines clean by the public. He encouraged the public to be proactive in reducing waste at source and in recycling, and to avoid the use of disposable items, thus achieving the goal of "leave no trace".
Mr Wong pointed out that, according to preliminary survey results, over 80 per cent of our marine refuse, such as plastic bottles, styrofoam containers and plastic bottle caps, which are disposable in nature, comes from local shoreline and recreational activities. Despite extra efforts made by relevant government departments to clean up after festivals, a large amount of rubbish was still found discarded on beaches and promenades after the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival. The Government will hence step up its publicity and educational efforts and remind members of the public to reduce waste at source and avoid using disposable items to keep the shorelines clean. He thanked the community groups for their participation in today's event and their support in keeping the shorelines clean.
At the ceremony, Mr Wong also presented awards to winners of the Clean Shorelines Comics Competition. With both primary school and secondary school sections, the competition drew more than 150 entries from 17 participating schools.
Other officiating guests at the ceremony included the Permanent Secretary for the Environment/Director of Environmental Protection, Ms Anissa Wong; the Chairman of the Southern District Council, Mr Chu Ching-hong; the Acting District Officer (Southern), Miss Nettie Ng; and representatives of the respective departments. Members of the Southern District Council, local and community groups and the winners of the Clean Shorelines Comics Competition also joined the event.
After the ceremony, Mr Wong and other officiating guests distributed reusable cutlery sets to beach-goers at Shek O Beach, encouraging them not to use disposable items and to put the goal of "leave no trace" into practice.
The Clean Shorelines Day, organised by the Inter-departmental Working Group on Clean Shorelines, included an award presentation ceremony for the Clean Shorelines Comics Competition and a display of the winning entries, a sharing session by community groups on keeping the shorelines clean, an exhibition of clean shorelines-related materials and artwork as well as game booths.
Also launched today was a new television and radio Announcement in the Public Interest as well as a poster promoting the message of "Protect our coast, leave no trace". The Government and Ocean Park will jointly organise a video competition and details will be announced at the thematic website at www.epd.gov.hk/epd/clean_shorelines.
Ends/Saturday, July 5, 2014
Issued at HKT 16:43
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