A matter of waste: the Hong Kong pupils making compost from their leftovers
School in Tuen Mun among 17 in city sending environmental ambassadors to classes after lunchtime to gather up – rather than throw away – uneaten food
A school bell rings, and a team of four young green pioneers are geared up for their mission. They carry their tools – bucket, shovels, two bags of sawdust – and march to different classrooms of Lui Cheung Kwong Lutheran Primary School, in Tuen Mun.
They are collecting lunch leftovers.
“When I first started, I didn’t want this job,” says one of the pupils, Sam Chow Ho-san. “The bag was just too smelly.”
The dust is full of various effective microorganisms, like bacteria and fungi, which help turn the waste into organic compost.
Every two weeks at the school, four students picked as environmental ambassadors go to different classrooms at the end of the lunch break, collecting the leftovers. It is a part of the Zero Food Waste in School programme that environmental group Greeners Action has organised at 17 Hong Kong schools, to reduce food waste and raise awareness of just how much food ends up in the bin.
