‘Giving feels good’: Briton’s Lamma Island Facebook project capitalises on generosity to build communities in Hong Kong
Social media group Buy Nothing looks to tackle the city’s growing mountains of waste, and in the process help Lamma residents build bonds
Residents of Lamma Island have formed a group to give away literally anything – from sports gear, toys, to excess food – to bring neighbours together while reducing waste.
Kerys Powell, 45, a primary schoolteacher, started the Facebook-based group called Buy Nothing Lamma Island after day-to-day experiences led her to notice disparities in Hong Kong society.
“I’ve seen people throw away perfectly good things,” the Briton says. “But I’ve also seen other people helping themselves to clothes that were in a bin.”
Hong Kong has an acute problem with domestic waste disposal. The government reports that while city households threw away an average of 6,391 tonnes of waste per day in 2016, the city’s landfills are nearly full.
Powell read a story online about how two friends in the United States, Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesl Clark, started Buy Nothing, a network of Facebook groups focused on gifting items to other members of their local community. Powell, who moved to Hong Kong in 2000, thought the idea would work well on Lamma Island.