[Environmental Protection Special Topic]Reducing waste from the source and protecting nature Ecological warriors make garbage regenerate

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(Hong Kong News) In recent years, many people will voluntarily pick up rubbish while climbing the mountain, practicing “save their own homeland by themselves”.

In fact, the most effective way to reduce waste in the countryside is to make preparations before departure, and try to bring as little rubbish up the mountain as possible, so that there will be nothing to throw away when you go outing or camping.

Planning to go camping in the mountains? Learn a few waste reduction techniques.

Due to the epidemic situation, many people have been unable to travel for more than two years, and some recreational and entertainment venues have not been able to open for a period of time. All kinds of incredible “waste” are left in nature.

Terence, the education manager of the Changchun Society, said that in the past when climbing and camping in the mountains, usually only leftover food, canned food, water bottles, toilet paper and other imagined wastes were found.

“But today, perhaps because of the prevalent punch-in culture, some people bring almost all their kitchen supplies to camping in order to take good photos, such as a stove to fry steaks, and a beautiful cutting board to arrange plates and delicate tableware. It is conceivable that more plastic bags will be used to hold the photos.”

Disposable pollution of nature

Junxian said that a set of basic camping equipment only costs a few hundred dollars, and some people may regard it as a disposable product and throw it away in the countryside after use, leaving all kinds of new “waste”.

The reporter once visited Po Toi Island after a holiday and saw all kinds of rubbish scattered on the popular camping grass slope.

“The most exaggerated I tried to find a complete set of camping equipment and stoves, and I also tried to find mahjong and LED lights to decorate the camp. The waste also polluted nature.”

The United States had the concept of “Leave No Trace” (Leave No Trace) in the 1960s and 1970s, encouraging people not to take away any plants or trees, and not to leave anything behind.

The Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has also launched the “Take your own garbage away” campaign in phases since 2015, removing trash cans in country park trails, and has held many publicity and education activities.

According to the statistical report released by the Fisheries and Conservation Department, the campaign has achieved remarkable results. The amount of garbage in most country parks has been greatly reduced by 30% to 90%. “Urgent” means that the amount of garbage in the first quarter has soared by 10% compared with the same period in 2019.

Junxian estimated that it was related to newcomers on outings. “People who often climb mountains or camp have long been used to taking away garbage, but new tourists may not understand the difficulty of removing garbage, thinking that there must be government departments to clean up, and some tourists behave Selfish, causing considerable damage to nature.”

Think about the value of garbage while picking it up

The Changchun Club holds an “Ecological Defense Battle” every year, recruiting and organizing ecological defense fighters to go to the mountain routes designed by the Changchun Club to clean up the garbage on the mountain trails in a team of four.

Earlier, the reporter followed the brigade to observe one of the routes that would pass through the “sacred camping site” Chijing.

Different from other mountain trail cleaning activities, the “Ecological Defense Battle” is not just picking up garbage. Each team is first assigned 4 recycling bags, long and short clips, and a record sheet for sorting and recycling mountain resources, and then two team members are responsible for picking up trash with long and short clips , and sort them into recyclable and non-recyclable garbage bags. The other two team members are responsible for taking photos of the garbage locations and filling in the recycling records. After returning to the finish line, the instructors of the Changchun Society will score points and review the classification.

Terence said that the process was deliberately designed to be cumbersome, because he hoped that the participants would not just pick up the garbage, but to think about why the garbage was picked up there, and at the same time understand that some garbage has recycling value.

After the event, the Changchun Club will transfer the recyclable garbage picked up by the participants to the relevant recycling companies according to their categories.

Let the valuable “garbage” be reborn

Sam, Ellen, and Peter, who participated in this activity for the first time, all have the habit of climbing mountains. However, they all said that they focus on climbing mountains on weekdays, and did not pay special attention to the garbage disposal along the way. It is even more serious in the camping area, where there are cans, aluminum cans, paper-wrapped drink boxes, plastic tableware, cigarette butts, batteries, and even plastic mats left on the site.

It was originally expected to pick up 1 kg of waste in about 2 kilometers, but the result was soon reached. They also said that less than 10 minutes after the event started, they picked up a piece of black fabric by the side of the road, and when they opened it, it turned out to be a pair of women’s swimming trunks.

It was also the first time for primary school student Corrine to participate in the trash picking activity, and she teamed up with her mother Sophia and friends to participate. Reporters saw her showing weakness along the way, running up and down, often rushing to pick up trash, even a small piece of paper on the ground.

Corrine said that the activity was not too hard, but she and her mother did not expect to pick up a lot of cigarette butts and candy wrappers, and the camping area was even worse. They believed that campers should take away their equipment and garbage.

Among her “trophies” is a trolley wheel, which was probably dropped off by someone while walking from Chijing to Beitanao, but the slope was too steep and she gave up on going downhill to retrieve it.

When the team members bring the waste to the finish line—Chijing, the Changchun social workers will spread out all the waste and sort it carefully.

Terence explained: “Not all of these discarded items are garbage. We will pick out items that still have recycling value, such as glass bottles, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, waste paper, miscellaneous glue, sort and clean them, take them away, and then hand them over to recyclers for processing .”

After the event, the report will be notified to the participants individually, hoping to let everyone understand that the trail clearing activity will not only remove garbage, but also return valuable “garbage” to the production chain.

Text / Photo Zhou Qunxiong “Ming Pao”

Be Prepared Before You Go Carry Less Disposable Items

Although many picnickers are aware of “taking their own garbage away”, sometimes they may abandon the countryside due to accidents or greed for convenience.

Junxian, the education manager of Changchun Society, believes that the most practical way to protect nature is to reduce waste at the source, make sufficient preparations before departure, reduce the number of disposable items, and use all recyclable and space-saving items. Naturally, there will be no garbage to go discard.

1/Pre-process the ingredients

For a picnic in the countryside, the ingredients can be pre-washed and processed. Take the vegetable quinoa cup prepared by Junxian this time as an example. First, it is not easy to wash vegetables with water from the mountains, and second, the broken ingredients may block the drain level of the water pipes in the country park.

If you pre-process the ingredients, you only need to use a spoon to stir when you go up the mountain, which can reduce the load. He also suggested that you can consider using ingredients such as cone cups to hold food, and eat together at the end without cleaning the utensils.

2/Environmentally friendly containers

Food ingredients should not be stored in plastic bags. Junxian said that the popular environmentally-friendly food bags are the best choice. There is an impervious layer inside, so there is no need to worry about water leakage, and it is more convenient to clean and store than plastic food boxes.

“If you carry canned ingredients, you should also unpack them in advance and put them in

In a food box or bag. “

He recommends buying a collapsible water bottle that can be folded into a small bottle after drinking up the drink.

Round cake shape, easy to store.

3/ Towels instead of paper towels

Paper towels are one of the top ten common garbage on mountain trails, because they rot easily when wet and are easily blown away by the wind. Junxian suggested that when climbing a mountain, use a towel instead of a paper towel to wipe sweat. If you don’t want to carry a wet towel home, he recommends buying a towel buckle. Dry.

4/ Homemade environmental protection paper

After opening the food container on the mountain, someone will seal it with plastic wrap to prevent insects from flying in.

Junxian recommends homemade environmentally friendly fresh-keeping paper. You can buy bee wax (bee wax) beads at a store that sells aromatherapy raw materials, and prepare a thin plain cotton or linen cloth. Put the bee wax beads between the cloths, and then use an iron to Evenly press and melt the honey wax in the middle to every corner of the cloth.

When using, you can put the beeswax cloth on the opening of the container, use the heat of the palms of your hands to soften the beeswax, and the self-made fresh-keeping paper will be firmly attached to the opening of the container, so you don’t have to worry about being blown away by the wind, it is more transparent and fresh Paper is environmentally friendly.

Use long tongs to pick up trash to avoid injury

Many caring people will spontaneously go to the countryside to clean up garbage, but Junxian said that there are certain dangers in the process, and some points should be paid more attention to.

use long clip

Do not pick up garbage with bare hands. In addition to hygienic factors, the surface of the garbage may cut your hands and may harbor insects. It is best to use tools such as long clips to pick up garbage.

dangerous location

Some of the garbage fell on the slope. He emphasized that do not pick it up forcibly, and only pick up the garbage that is within reach. At the same time, you must always pay attention to the position of your feet.

unknown liquid

Abandoned plastic bottles are most often found in the countryside, and most of them still have liquid in them. He warned, don’t try to pour it out, because you don’t know the contents, if it is acidic or flammable liquid, it will be very dangerous, and the whole plastic bottle should be clamped.

avoid the nest

When picking up garbage, you must first look at the surrounding environment clearly. For example, is the mask hanging on the tree trunk close to the nest of insects and ants (see picture)? Is litter from the side of the road falling on tiny holes? If the dump location may be a nest of animals or insects, it should not be picked up.

cut resistant bag

Another common garbage in the countryside is glass shards. He suggested that they should not be placed together with general garbage. They should bring an extra thick and tough plastic bag or non-woven bag (such as a rice bag) for special storage, so as not to cut the plastic bag and cause the garbage to scatter all over the place. land.

Article Zhou Qunxiong “Ming Pao”

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