Go green to enhance good fortune in the Year of the Rooster

Wendell Chan says celebrations usually leave a mass of waste in their trail, but a few conscientious choices can change that, starting with the kumquat tree

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Visitors choose from row upon row of kumquat trees at the New Year Fair in Victoria Park, on January 22. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 10:38am, 26 Jan 2017Updated: 6:09pm, 26 Jan 2017

The time of celebration and the time of waste is once again near. Families are rushing to make last-minute purchases for the Lunar New Year.

Last time around, Hong Kong’s flower markets threw away 23 per cent more waste than the previous year. More than 16,000 trees were cut down to make 320 million red packets – most of which ended up not being used. Tubs full of unsold goldfish were left to rot in gutters after the festival. There are many things to comment on, but let’s look at the popular kumquat trees.

How Hongkongers celebrate Chinese New Year

The small citrus tree symbolises wealth and good fortune, for the words gam (金) and gat (桔) in its name. Or at least it is supposed to, considering that we throw out these symbols of “wealth and good fortune” after a couple of weeks. Last Lunar New Year, around 40,000 kumquat trees were disposed of in Hong Kong. That is about 1,400 tonnes or 60 double-decker buses in weight. For comparison, the city produced 111 tonnes of yard waste daily, on average, in 2014.

The myths of Chinese New Year explained

Although the Housing Authority and other groups run recovery programmes, only a small percentage is reclaimed, with most of the trees entering landfills.

Children perform during festivities to celebrate the kumquat harvest in Rongan county of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on December 28. Photo: Xinhua

Most things – particularly woody materials – take much longer to break down in the dry and airless conditions of landfills. Even 50-year-old newspapers were found to be still readable. The decomposition process also contributes to climate change through methane emissions. Organic waste such as food scraps and yard waste can instead be composted for use in gardens and so on.

Eco-farm urges Hongkongers to recycle Lunar New Year trees for compost

The kumquat trees are more than just decoration. Their golden fruits can be preserved in salt or used to make jam. They are valued in Chinese medicine for treating sore throats and coughs. Sadly, the trees we get for Lunar New Year are grown for ornamental purposes. They are sprayed heavily with chemicals for pest control. In most cases, the fruits still contain excessive pesticide residue and are not suitable for consumption.

Three lucky Lunar New Year recipes with kumquat

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