Your Voice: Hong Kong’s food waste and water pollution; if you’re depressed, listen to your heart (long letters)

Hong Kong has a reputation for its stunning variety of international cuisines and its beautiful waters. But Hong Kong also has a problem with food waste and water pollution, which are two of the biggest environmental issues that we should be concerned about.

According to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), food waste in 2019 accounted for about 30 per cent of the city’s municipal solid waste. Every day that year, a large volume of food waste – about 3,353 tonnes – was sent to landfills. About 32 per cent of food waste disposed in landfills came from commercial and industrial food waste.

In February this year, the Hong Kong government issued the Waste Blueprint for Hong Kong 2035 to outline its ambitions for managing the city’s rubbish. According to the plan, authorities will continue to expand its pilot scheme for collecting and recycling food waste. It aims to achieve the target of collecting 250 tonnes of domestic food waste per day by 2022.

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Water pollution is also a big problem in Hong Kong. The city’s marine waters cover about 1,700 sq km and are home to a wide range of aquatic life.

After Hong Kong’s population started skyrocketing in the 1970s and 1980s, sewage and waste water ended up in the sea. According to the EPD website, this caused a surge in organic and inorganic pollutants, a decrease in the water’s oxygen content and heightened bacteria levels.

Marine pollution has been exacerbated by the pandemic. In 2020, an additional 4,680 to 6,240 metric tonnes of plastic waste made its way into oceans, according to marine conservation group OceansAsia. This was caused by an estimated 1.56 billion face masks that were dumped in the ocean in 2020. Experts say the masks may take up to 450 years to break down.

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Plastics are also commonly washed into the ocean and other bodies of water. According to Ocean Conservancy, about 8 million metric tonnes of plastic reach the ocean every year.

To reduce this, we should avoid using plastics by finding alternatives to disposable utensils, bottles and other plastic items. Whenever we use plastic, we should recycle. If we take a shower every day, we must opt for shorter showers.

Hong Kong’s environmental problem is getting severe, but I hope people are willing to put in the effort to improve our city.

Lau Sin-huen, Valtorta College

I am writing in response to the article “Hong Kong students showing signs of depression” (Young Post, November 3). I noticed this story because it is relevant to my life, and I am worried about how depression can cause serious problems.

Being a secondary school student is not as easy as I thought it would be when I was 12. I still remember the summer holiday before my first year of secondary school. I dreamt that I would join different clubs and have time to build friendships with my new schoolmates.

But after studying in secondary school for the past six years, I have discovered how stressful school can be. I am so lucky that I found a way to deal with these feelings.

Knowing that many students might be facing the same emotions makes me want to give them some advice as a peer. After trying many different methods of getting over these obstacles, I found that diverting attention away from what made me depressed was a useful way to overcome these bad feelings I had.

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Only digest your emotions when you are ready. Pour yourself a drink you like, and play white noise or music. It is easier to deal with your feelings when you are in a comfortable environment, such as your bed.

Some people say that facing your problems head-on and finding a way to fix them is the best solution. But I want to remind you that your abilities are not always enough to solve them.

You can treat the feelings as a part of yourself – not only accepting it, but also living in peace with it. Don’t put too much emphasis on external matters, but pay more attention to what you need in your heart.

As a Form 6 student who will soon face the Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, I am aware of the importance of managing my emotions. I hope that all of us can try our best to get through our difficult times and find ways to deal with negative emotions.