Mid-Autumn Beach Clean-up: Thanks & Photos

Posted on October 9th, 2009 in Beach Clean-up, DB as a city, Events by Michele Felder

Thank you very much to all the volunteers who joined us at Tai Pak Beach for last Sunday’s post lantern-festival beach clean-up!

As expected, there was an abundance of glow-sticks, plastic and glass bottles, aluminum cans, melted candles, lighters and various scraps of paper and plastic items that had been discarded or simply left on the beach after the mid-autumn festivities. But, thanks to the help of over 100 volunteers (an amazing 86 of whom were kids!), the beach was spotless in just under an hour and a half!
Unfortunately, a lot of the litter at community events in Discovery Bay does not get separated, causing perfectly recyclable items to go straight to landfill, or worse, blown into storm drains and/or the ocean due to their buoyant and light-weight nature.  We’re glad to report that all the recyclable waste that we collected was separated and disposed of in the proper recycling bins provided by Winson, who reassure us that the waste will be transported to recycling centers.
We were also able to collect data regarding the types and quantities of rubbish, which will be sent to the Green Council who are compiling the Hong Kong beaches report for the 2009 International Coastal Cleanup.  The consolidated results will be sent to the Ocean Conservancy in the US to be part of their 2009 global report.  Based on the findings of this year’s cleanup, DB Green will be presenting an action plan to Discovery Bay City Management on how to make improvements for next year’s festivities at the beach.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful sponsors of the event for their support and fabulous prizes for the kid’s raffle.  A big thanks to Discovery Bay Marina Club, Dymocks, Hemingways, Kinoa-shop.com, Little Miss Green the Party Queen and Uncle Russ for their generosity.
For all who came, we hope you had a great time, and walked away with a smile and a sense of accomplishment.  Thank you for doing your part, not only for Tai Pak Beach, Discovery Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong, but for the global environment!  For those who weren’t able to come this time — see you next year!
We hope to see you again at the next beach cleanup.
Sincerely,
Salina – The Way To Go

Kate and Michele – DB Green

Mid-Autumn Festival Beach Clean-up -Sunday, Oct. 4th, 9am

Posted on September 30th, 2009 in Beach Clean-up, DB as a city, Events by Michele Felder

Every year, after a wonderful night of fun and celebration, beaches in Hong Kong are covered with litter after the Mid- Autumn Festival celebrations. Large numbers of lanterns, candles and wax globs, glow-sticks, lighters, beverage bottles and food wrappers are left half buried in the sand. Not only is this rubbish ugly, but as the tide rises, a lot of it ends up in the ocean.

DB’s very own Tai Pak Beach is one of those covered with litter after the festival. At last year’s clean-up, thousands of discarded glow- sticks, bottles and numerous other items were left on the beach.

This year, come and see for yourself and do your part to help keep our beach clean, prevent marine pollution and protect the ocean. Join TheWayToGo and DB Green for this year’s annual ‘Post-Lantern Festival’ beach cleanup!

Date:  Sunday, October 4, 2009
Time: 09:00 – 13:00
Meeting place: Tai Pak Beach (under the trees, on the Water Margin side)
What to bring*: sunblock, a hat, a water bottle, lots of energy and enthusiasm!

All kids will receive a free beach cleanup crew T-shirt for helping out, and everyone is welcome to enjoy a celebratory post-clean-up barbeque at Hemingways!

See you there!

*Gloves and rubbish bags will be provided. Drinking water will be provided for free refills.

International Coastal Cleanup 09 Thank you!

Posted on September 21st, 2009 in Beach Clean-up by Tracey

A big thank you to all the volunteers who came to Nim Shue Wan beach and helped out at Sunday’s ‘International Coastal Cleanup’ beach cleanup.

The shocking aftermath of Typhoon Koppu at Nim Shue Wan was shin-deep polystyrene fragments that were so small, it looked as if it had snowed on the beach! That, combined with lots of rope, fishing nets, plastic bottles, bags and wrapping, and surprising numbers of toothbrushes, lighters and sandals made for a tough morning of raking, scooping and bagging.

What seemed like a daunting task was made possible by the help of many hands. What was accomplished was fantastic to say the very least. A total of 151 rubbish bags were filled with rubbish, removed from the beach and taken to landfill by the Marine Department. That’s about 760kgs of rubbish we helped to remove from the ocean!

Check out the before-after shots for proof of the difference that was made…

We wish to extend a big thank you to Gary and Hemingways for their wonderful hotdogs, Hoi Yu for water refills, and the Marina Club for all the ice and cold drinks.

We’d also like to send out a special pat on the back to all the little ones who worked (and played) so hard on the beach as part of the ‘Eco- kids Beach Clean Up Crew’.

We hope you all had a good time!

Rubbish in the ocean is one of the most widespread pollution problems we face, affecting all living creatures. Countless birds, dolphins, seals, and fish eat things they shouldn’t and many of them die. It can make the ocean more vulnerable to impacts from climate change, coastal development, and overfishing. It impacts local economies, seafood industries, and recreation, and reduces our access to beaches.

We appreciate everyone’s hard work and dedication to keep rubbish off the beach and out of the ocean.

We look forward to seeing you all again on Sunday, October 4 at DB’s
Tai Pak beach for our annual post-lantern festival beach cleanup.
There will be a prize-giving ceremony as we draw the Eco-kids Beach Clean Up Crew raffle. Hope to see you there!

All the best!
Salina & Tracey

NSW ICC 09
NSW 09 09
NSW 2 09 09
NSW ICC 3 09
NSW ICC 2 09
NSW 3 09 09
NSW ICC 1 09

International Coastal Cleanup – Sept 20th

Posted on September 2nd, 2009 in Beach Clean-up by Tracey

forumposter1It is that time of year again when we get to make an even bigger impact with our local beach cleanup. By joining in and documenting all the rubbish that we collect from the beaches we can combine our data with 100,000s of other people all around the world to capture a snapshot of the health of our oceans and beaches.

The International Coastal Cleanup is organised by the Ocean Conservancy (www.oceanconservancy.org) and each year they produce a booklet with the global report from all the data they receive (to read more about this please follow this link http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=icc_report).

Please come and participate in this fun and worthwhile day. DB Green is organising the cleanup of two of our neighbouring beaches that are in need of some TLC.

Meeting Point - Nim Shue Wan beach (on the road to the Marina Club – look out for the DB Green sign on the fence) on SUNDAY 20th SEPTEMBER from 9-1pm.

What to bring – lots of family and friends! A refillable waterbottle (we have loads of water kindly donated by Hoi Yu), lots of sunscreen and sun protection and sturdy shoes that may get wet.

What we will give you – gloves, bags for collecting rubbish and importantly a data collection record sheet to note down ALL the rubbish you collect. We also have some rakes and tongs to use and on hand we have first aid facilities, a basic toilet and handwashing.

To celebrate afterwards, the wonderful team at Hemingway’s will be feeding us with a great BBQ on the beach.

We are looking forward to having as many people join us to make this another fantastic community day!

P1070483IMG_2602IMG_2600

Petition for pink dolphin marine parks- sign before 12th September

Posted on August 21st, 2009 in Air and Water Quality, Beach Clean-up by Kate Wade

Hi everyone- please check out this information from WWF about the new Macau bridge and sign the petition to get some designated marine parks to be made in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s ocean is a shocking state with many species on the verge of collapse yet Hong Kong’s government is not protecting the oceans here. Even designated marine parks (though not allowed to be fished in by you and me) are still allowed commercial fishers in- bizarre! Anyhow the more ocean we can get changed to marine park the better so show that some of us in Hong Kong do care and sign it now and send everyone you know the link!
Kate

Post cleanup – Thanks!

Posted on July 13th, 2009 in Beach Clean-up by Tracey

Thanks to everyone who turned up for the surprisingly warm morning down the beach. With all the enthusiastic volunteers we had Nim Shue Wan cleaned beautifully.

We had a few dedicated people cleaning further along past Cheung Sha Lan beach picking up recycling and styrofoam from the ‘pebble beach’ (towards the monastery). About 200 plastic bottles were sent to the recyclers and countless boxes of styrofoam were taken away by the Marine Dept. who helped remove all the rubbish from the beach via their boats. 20 shoes were also removed from the beach.

Cheung Sha Lan beach had 30 bags removed and Nim Shue Wan had well over 100kg of rubbished removed from the sand and in the water.

A really great effort from all the volunteers (including lots of enthusiastic kids).

Our fab t-shirts for the kids were also ready for this cleanup. So don’t forget to join us in September for the big cleanup and receive your pre ordered t-shirt!

Thanks for making this cleanup another successful day!
Before …

<

After …

</a

July 12 th Beach Clean Up

Posted on July 7th, 2009 in Beach Clean-up by Tracey

Sunday July 12th 9am -1pm
Meeting point is Nim Shue Wan

Hope to see you there!

June beach cleanup

Posted on June 22nd, 2009 in Beach Clean-up by Tracey

We had another very successful beach cleanup and a great turnout which made a huge difference. Thank you to all those wonderful families and individuals who took the time to come and help with this meaningful community event. Every contribution makes a difference. There were approximately 85 bags of rubbish collected with combined weights of almost 1 tonne of rubbish removed from the beaches! That is 1 tonne less rubbish that will end up floating in the sea!

We had a delicious and much needed BBQ after the event. Water was kindly supplied once again by Hoi Yu. DB Green sponsored the BBQ and other drinks.

We had a film crew documenting our cleanup with the footage being used to make a documentary about Project Kaisei which is a HK organisation tackling the global problem of the Plastic Vortex (www.projectkaisei.com)

We look forward to seeing another great turnout to continue with this task of clearing all the rubbish from the beach at our next beach cleanup. There is stilll a lot of trapped rubbish in rocks and bushes and unfortunately there is always fresh rubbish bought in on the tides.

July 12th – meeting point Nim Shue Wan 9am -1pm.

Beach Cleanup Sunday June 14th

Posted on June 8th, 2009 in Beach Clean-up by Tracey

Everyone most welcome. There is no need to register beforehand, please just turn up but don’t forget your hat, sunscreen, insect repellent and refillable water bottle. We will have water available on the day. And of course we are looking forward to relaxing and chatting with everyone afterwards over a sausage and drink!

The meeting point is Nim Shue Wan beach but we will actually try and clean the neglected beach further along the path – Cheung Sha Lan, as there is so much rubbish there and it won’t go unless we clean it! It is a 5 minute walk and there are some steps.

See you soon!

DB Green Newsletter — May 09

Posted on May 25th, 2009 in Beach Clean-up, Events, Group emails past to present, Resources, Tree Planting by Michele Felder

Upcoming DB Green Events
Beach Clean-ups: Sunday, June 14th and Sunday, July 12th
–Meet: Nim Shue Wan beach from 9am- 1pm

Tree Planting: Saturday & Sunday May 30 & 31
–Meet: Golf Course road, path to pagoda, across the stream to the left of the path

Project Updates
Tree planting – Round 2 Complete!
After five Saturdays and Sundays spent digging holes, planting seedlings, watering trees and enjoying picnic lunches, John Horwood with his supportive wife and family, and a long list of volunteers, completed the 2nd round of tree planting in the area near the pagoda, off the golf course road. A total of 360 new trees were planted, with varieties including Hog Plum, Ivy Tree, Hance’s Syzygium, two Chinese Banyan and a few Pomelo. Take a walk to the site and admire the foundations of the DB Conservation Area. Plant some more trees on May 30!

Beach Clean-up – May 10th
On May 10th, Mother’s Day, about 30 adults and children turned up for the 2nd beach clean-up of 2009, focused on Nim Shue Wan and Cheung Sha Lan beaches. We concentrated mainly on Nim Shue Wan, with a few hardy souls (Peter Shaw and Tracey Read) venturing beyond to do some work at Cheung Sha Lan. Excellent progress was made on removing both big and small items from the beach, even some left-over from Typhoon Hagupit last year. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a few sausages (including vegetarian) and cold drinks to celebrate our hard work. If you missed this one, don’t worry, the next event is June 14th!

“No junk mail”
As part of our campaign to ‘reduce’ the quantity of paper sent and then discarded, DB Green has kicked off a “no junk mail” project. Residents of Siena 2B received a sticker in their mailbox along with a village newsletter. For those who want to reduce their junk mail (and reduce waste) they can put the sticker on their mailboxes. Magazine racks were also installed in the high-rises to hold a limited number of fliers, allowing people to take only the fliers that interest them and return those they have finished with. We hope other villages will follow this example with Siena 1, Chianti, the Greens and Siena 2A next in line. More DB Green members are needed on the Village Owner Committees (VOC) to help these initiatives make faster progress.

Recycling
The recycling program in DB is ticking along nicely. Dana and Kate have decided to go back to some basics by checking each and every rubbish room in DB to see if improvements can be made in communications or organization. They are starting with tower 2 of the Greens and have written a number of suggestions to Winson and the estate manager, correspondence here. They are implementing some small changes by the end of May to improve recycling rates, and then plan to move on to towers 1 and 3, followed by towers 4, 5, and 6. If you are a resident of the Greens and want to help with this initiative, please reply to this email and we’ll link you up with Dana or Kate.

If you notice your recycling is being mixed with the rubbish, please contact Winson immediately. A training class has been arranged to teach the cleaners what is recyclable. All the cleaners should have participated in it by now, but education is a process and may need reminders now and again. If you or your neighbours need a reminder about what is and isn’t recyclable in Hong Kong, look here

Be the change you want to see in the world!
***Reduce your plastic footprint!***
While plastic has been an amazing addition to our lives, it has also become an increasing environmental challenge – filling our oceans, waterways, beaches, and landfills. Unfortunately, it never biodegrades and only 5% of the millions of tons produced annually, is recycled.

What you can do:
• Say “no thank you” when offered a plastic bag for shopping
• Bring your own plastic drink bottles
• Say “no way” to polystyrene take-away containers
• Recycle everything you can
• More tips here

Links and Resources
• Ever wondered how to say “no plastic bag” in Cantonese? Check out this list of useful enviro-friendly Cantonese and Mandarin phrases.
• List of some organic shops in Hong Kong
• An article on how to reduce your environmental impact by eating more organic food
• DB environment discussion forum on Way-to-Go web site
• Project Kaisei focused on cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean
• LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) Square @ Star Ferry every Sunday- more info
• “All is One” video – we only have one world and everything on it is connected

Next Page »