Hong Kong Needs to Cut Paper Use

Some 8 million lai see envelopes were collected last year

Just before Lunar New Year, many companies send me lai see envelopes and I try to give them to colleagues to use, or I keep them. So I was very pleased to find out I could take them to a collection point at my apartment building, where they would be picked up by an environmental group called Greeners Action.

Yesterday I took a bag of unused and used lai see envelopes to the box. I had so many that I had to ask the attendant to lift the lid of the box instead of putting them through the slot at the top of the lid, and when he did, I was pleased to find there were already stacks of red envelopes in there.

Please put your lai see envelopes in this box!

The NGO is trying to make people more aware of the garbage they are accumulating, and that things like lai see envelopes can be used again and again.

Greeners Action's executive director Angus Ho Hon-wai estimates that the amount of paper used to make the lai see envelopes amounts to 16,300 trees.

Seriously?

Does he mean skinny trees or very thick mature ones?

"It's an astronomical figure," Ho says. "I've looked at some numbers and it doesn't seem like other places with Chinese people distribute as much lai see as we do."

Not only that but many people in Hong Kong like to use crisp bills too to symbolize a new start to the Lunar New Year.

Last year Greeners Action collected about 8 million lai see envelopes -- about 30 tonnes in weight -- and about half of them were still good to reuse, the other half was recycled.

The envelopes are given out to people to use again

People have until February 22 to collect their lai see envelopes and drop them off in 500 collection points around the city, including shopping malls, Jockey Club betting stations, residential estates, hospitals and banks.

We should also keep in mind that the city threw out 2,257 tonnes of waste paper everyday -- a 17.5 percent increase from 2015. Hong Kong people really need to not only be more conscious of using paper, but also the government needs to educate them on how to recycle and help make recycling paper and other items a viable business.

Getting Something We Didn't Ask For

We may see a replica of this in Hong Kong in West Kowloon in a few years

There are a lot of questions as to why a HK$3.5 billion dollar replica of the Palace Museum is being added at the West Kowloon Cultural District.

The biggest question is why there isn't any public consultation over it -- do we really need a replica of the Forbidden City that's worth that much money? Or is this meant to be a subtle hint that Beijing isn't as far away as we think?

According to legislation on the arts hub it says: "the Authority shall, in relation to matters concerning the development or operation of arts and cultural facilities, related facilities, ancillary facilities and any other matters as the Authority considers fit, consult the public at such time and in such manner as it considers appropriate".

Carrie Lam says the project doesn't need public consultation

However, Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who is also chairwoman of the authority's board, said the project didn't need public consultation because it was run by the authority and not the government, and also it was being funded by the Jockey Club and didn't need Legislative Council approval.

Lam also lobbied every member of the board personally to get them on board the project -- which they only heard about last month.

One board member reported the project was already underway with architect Rocco Yim Sen-kee leading the project. You may remember him as the one who designed the relatively new government complex at Tamar.

Lam insinuates this project is not one that would go down well in a public consultation.

"It is very difficult to conduct a public consultation because it involves the central government and the related ministries," she said. "You can imagine that, if we were to ask the public if they wanted to have more exhibits from the Palace Museum more than half a year earlier, everyone should respond positively. But if more than half a year later, someone disagreed with it, it would be very embarrassing."

Civic Party's Tanya Chan Suk-chong and deputy chairwoman of the Legco panel monitoring the West Kowloon development, was unconvinced.

"Did she mean that public consultations must be avoided if opposition is expected?" Chan said.

The airport's air traffic control system hasn't been working well

But it sounds like this is the way things are being done in Hong Kong now -- tough, accountable questions are not being asked, let alone answered these days, which is why we have things like a newly installed air traffic control system worth HK$1.56 billion at Hong Kong International Airport not working properly, where planes disappear off radar screens for several seconds, and yet aviation officials insist this is not a risk to air safety.

So if air traffic control lose sight of a plane on their radar screens for 12 seconds, there isn't a problem?

And now we seem to be getting a replica of Beijing's Palace Museum whether we like it or not.

Welcome to the ongoing mainlandization of Hong Kong, or China's version of soft power.

Either way it's not very reassuring.

Photo of the Day: A Slice of Blue Sky

Taking in the view from this angle at the JACCAC

Yesterday I went to the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre in Shek Kip Mei in Kowloon. I was there on assignment and it was my first time visiting the place, a 10-minute walk from the MTR station.

The building is former factory and about eight years ago was turned into the JCCAC with 150 studios for artists, arts groups, and students. On the walls were posters advertising for various art classes, like ceramics, painting, photography for all ages.

As a result many of the rooms are studios, or offices related to the arts. Perhaps PMQ should have been turned into something like this than focusing on just retail.

It was quite hot yesterday and so by the time I arrived for my appointment, I was dripping with sweat.

But outside on the balcony, there was a cool breeze and I saw this slice of blue sky in between two tall residential buildings.

It kind of sums up Hong Kong -- if you are privileged enough to have any kind of view...

Picture of the Day: Better Luck Next Time?

Five tickets, and not much luck for this beginner punter

Tuesday was the 40th anniversary of Mark Six, the lottery in Hong Kong and it marked the milestone promising a HK$100 million (US$12.86 million) jackpot.

Naturally lots of people went to Jockey Club outlets to buy tickets, even first-timers like me.

On Sunday night there was a massive queue going out the door from the one in Kennedy Town, so I walked to the one in Sheung Wan and bought five tickets that are computer drawn at HK$20 each.

In the end HK$446 million worth of tickets were sold.

The numbers were drawn last night -- 11, 16, 19, 21, 30 and 33, the bonus number 31.

What did I get? One ticket had two numbers, the rest had one number or none.

But there were five lucky winners who won HK$27 million each.

I like many others knew the chances were slim, but as the saying goes, "You gotta be in it to win it".

Oh well.

Nevertheless, a good chunk of the money will be used to help Hong Kong's underprivileged, such as the elderly, the poor and young people seeing rehabilitation.