Revelers threw away 1.8 million mooncakes during Mid-Autumn Festival
A green group estimates that Hongkongers threw away almost 1.8 million mooncakes after last year's Mid-Autumn Festival and has called for less wasteful ways this year.
A green group estimates that Hongkongers threw away almost 1.8 million mooncakes after last year's Mid-Autumn Festival and has called for less wasteful ways this year.
With the festival coming up in two weeks, Green Power released a survey yesterday on people's festival habits.
After interviewing 319 people last month, it found that each household, on average, discarded three-quarters of a mooncake last year after it passed the expiry date.
It was the best result since the group started the survey nine years ago. The worst was in 2009, when each family dumped 1.25 mooncakes on average.
"Even if each family throws out only a small amount, huge numbers are still discarded," said the group's conservation manager, Henry Lui Tak-hang.
"We hope people can more accurately estimate the number of mooncakes needed so that they don't buy too many."
Based on the Census and Statistics Department's figure of 2,389,000 households in Hong Kong, if each family dumped three-quarters of a mooncake, it would mean up to 1.79 million were thrown away.
Lui said people should work out how many mooncakes they were likely to eat and how many they would receive as gifts and just buy enough to meet their needs.
Dried mushrooms and seafood could also be considered as gifts to replace mooncakes as they could be kept for longer, he said.
