Sai Kung diners to get leftovers in doggy bags to fertilise plants

An eco revolution is slowly brewing in Sai Kung, which one restaurateur hopes will start with doggy bags.

But diners aren't taking home leftovers; for the past week they have been given bags of compost to fertilise their plants with.

Tony Chow Yung-kit is hoping his new takeaway idea will plant a seed among his customers. As the owner of four waterfront restaurants in Sai Kung, he believes he has a responsibility to lessen their environmental impact by reducing the volume of kitchen waste they churn out.

And he wants his customers to be part of the scheme.

First, he bought a composting machine. "It might be small, being no bigger than a meat freezer, but it can produce a good amount of fertiliser every day," Chow said. "For every 50kg of kitchen waste we generate, the machine converts it into more than 10kg of compost."

Chow's two Sai Square restaurants create about 50kg of waste a day. He hopes to extend the composting to his two Tung Kee restaurants in the near future. It took about a week to produce the first batch of compost, but now they make about 10kg a day.