Hong Kong hiking: the domestic helpers scaling new heights to tackle countryside litter scourge
- Group of friends use their one day off a week to collect rubbish as they pound strenuous, dangerous routes to city’s least accessible peaks
- ‘Rubbish is the world’s problem,’ says Filipino on a mission to do her bit to protect the environment
These domestic helpers might be tempted to have a lie-in on their one day off a week.
But they have a grander vision: waking before dawn to scale some of Hong Kong’s hardest-to-reach peaks and help rid the countryside of litter.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Mary Jane Escalante would spend her time off in Central with her friends, but took up hiking last February to avoid the crowds, now rising before 6am to do so.
As they pounded the trails, the 43-year-old from the Philippines and a group of friends noticed discarded tissues, plastic bottles and masks even on the highest peaks, prompting them to bring along black bags to collect and properly dispose of the litter.
“Rubbish is the world’s problem,” says Escalante, a helper who has lived in Hong Kong for 15 years.