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Hong Kong environmental issues
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Letters | Why does Hong Kong take paper recycling so lightly?

  • With the paper the world wastes each year, we could build a 3.65-metre high wall stretching from New York to California

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Piles of wastepaper sit at the Public Cargo Working Area in Tsuen Wan in September 2017. Photo: Sam Tsang
Letters
I see an increasing amount of perfectly good paper going to waste in bins all over Hong Kong. Paper waste affects us and the world in more ways than many of us think.

Trees produce oxygen for humans and animals to live and breathe. In fact, one tree can provide enough oxygen for three people a day! Far too many people usually just throw away paper instead of recycling it. One billion hectares of forest have been cut down in 40 years, and between 2001 and 2019, a total of 386 million hectares of forest were lost globally, representing an almost 10 per cent decrease in tree cover since 2000.

Not only does deforestation mean destruction of natural habitats and loss of species, but it is also a major factor in global warming.

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One million plants and animals on brink of extinction, threatening economies and livelihoods across the world

One million plants and animals on brink of extinction, threatening economies and livelihoods across the world

With the paper the world wastes each year, we could build a 3.65-metre high wall stretching from New York to California. That’s over 4,600 km!

It is a shame that so much paper is being wasted, and not being used to produce other paper products that are reusable, such as books and storage boxes. Paper can be recycled, but the problem is that so many people don’t do it.

Not wasting paper and recycling means saving trees, and water, and contributing to helping the world become a better place for all of us.

Kaitlyn Chan, Pok Fu Lam

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