Hong Kong people love to be up to date with electronic gadgets, but this in turn creates a huge amount of electronic waste. Many people buy several gadgets a year and throw away the old ones without too much thought, making e-waste a bigger threat than ever to the environment.
To draw attention to the issue, students and teachers from HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity are hosting an exhibition in Mong Kok Computer Centre to demonstrate how e-waste can be transformed into fabulous works of art and useful accessories.
Coney Luk Tsz-ching, a Form Five student, made use of floppy discs to create desktop items. Many secondary school students have never heard of floppy discs, as they were phased out in the 1990s after the introduction of compact discs, but they are still being thrown away.
Luk transformed them into pen holders and magazine racks, and turned a floppy disc drive into a card holder. 'I want to let others know that e-waste can be made into something that is totally different from its original function,' she says.
Another Form Five student, Chloe Leung Shun-kin, designed a dress highlighted with accessories made from e-waste. 'I named the dress 'Treasure E' because I think e-waste can be treasure,' she says. 'Treasure it and it will be treasure. I want people to think twice before they throw away their gadgets.'
Before heading to the exhibition there is something you can do to help reduce e-waste. Visitors are encouraged to donate their old electronic appliances, such as monitors, printers, projectors and keyboards.