Eco-farm urges Hongkongers to recycle Lunar New Year trees for compost

Some 40,000 kumquat trees – said to ensure a family will be fruitful for generations to come – are bought each year in Hong Kong but most end up in landfills. A Peng Chau farm has offered to take them for composting instead

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A kumquat tree vendor in Victoria Park. Some 40,000 kumquat trees are bought in Hong Kong each Lunar New Year. Photo: EPA

Published: 4:30pm, 11 Feb 2016Updated: 4:30pm, 11 Feb 2016

Nothing symbolises Lunar New Year like a kumquat tree that grows mini oranges called kut, which is said to ensure a family will have many generations to come. They take over markets and adorn homes and offices across the city, but when the festivities are over, most of the 40,000 trees typically purchased each year end up in one of Hong Kong’s overburdened landfills.

According to the Tai Po-based Environmental Association, about 1,400 tonnes of kumquat trees are expected to be disposed of at the end of this holiday season.

A farmer prepares kumquat trees for sale during Lunar New Year.

With this in mind, Hong Kong environmental group Growing Smart is asking people to deliver their kumquat trees to the group’s Peng Chau farm on Saturday so they can be converted into compost.

“We’ll be on the farm from 10am till 5pm, so anytime between those times is fine to drop them off,” says Shahara Khaleque, co-founder of Growing Smart. “The only condition is you will need to bring it to us. Our farm is about a 15-minute walk from the pier on Peng Chau island but it’s an easy and pretty walk, with only a little uphill.”