News & Stories

By Prof. Anirban Mukhopadhyay, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies) of Business and Management, HKUST Distilled water manufacturer Watsons Water announced in January that it is installing 400 reverse water bottle recycling vending machines in town. People who put used bottles into the machines will receive coupons or gift redemptions. The purpose is to educate the public about reducing plastic waste, backed by greater financial incentives. Given Hong Kong's rapidly filling landfills, I am surprised people don't recycle more regularly. There is probably a mix of reasons for this, including a lack of awareness of the scope of the problem, the relatively low visibility of other people recycling, and, most importantly, the fact that it is still very inconvenient for most to recycle.

With the success of the “UNIfy: Skip the Straw” campaign last year, eight UGC-funded universities will launch a “UNIfy:BYO” campaign on March 11, 2019 to reduce disposable waste. The Campaign signifies the joint efforts of City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Education University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The University of Hong Kong to reduce disposable waste. This year, the BYO campaign is focused on the concept of “bring your own” where students and staff at all universities are encouraged to bring their own reusable items, whether it’s a bag, bottle or container, when purchasing food and other items on campus. The campaign hopes to reduce the use of disposable items and create a culture of using reusables across Hong Kong campuses.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today launched the “Sustainable Smart Campus as a Living Lab” (SSC) – an initiative that transforms the campus into a testing ground for learning, experimenting, and advancing smart and innovative ideas to address real-life challenges.

Prof. Christine LOH has newly joined the Division of Environment at HKUST as Chief Development Strategist. She believes in the power of co-learning that brings together the people and knowledge from different fields including academia, government and public institutions to influence the decision makers. She thinks the China and HKSAR governments and private sectors are paying more attention to environmental and sustainability issues. It is definitely a big area to grow in future and demanding many young professionals from diverse disciplines to work together to make a difference.

Two groups of students spent the past year building soil. The project not only produced compost for direct use on campus; it also involved the development of a composting method and innovative composter design.

Supported by Sustainability Unit, Campus Services Office and Facilities Management Office, the student initiated Take-away Box Circular Program that grabbed multiple media?s attention successfully launched last month and engaged more than 400 students and staff to get involved.

HKUST has proudly phased out sale of plastic bottled water under 1 Litre on campus from 22 March 2018.

These are some of the creative moves our fellow cabinets have made to support Green Promotion. Big events like Promotion period and graduation ceremony are also some peaks that create huge amount of waste like leaflets that are merely read through, decoration materials.