Synix Siwen SUN
BSc in Risk Management and Business Intelligence, Class of 2016
Stacy Kaihong HE
BSc in Environmental Management and Technology, Class of 2016
Rax Chin Wong LAU
BSc in Environmental Management and Technology, Class of 2016
To support eco-friendly waste disposal, I helped to organize a campaign to encourage HKUST student societies to recycle their banners and decorations this year. The aim was to motivate the societies to make better use of promotional materials provided by the University rather than just throwing them away after use.
Having observed the amount of waste produced in previous student activities, we definitely saw the need for improvement. The idea was conceived by a member of our organizing committee who took part in a School of Business and Management group project.
Our campaign was divided into three stages:
First, the organizing committee made alist of the participating student societies and recorded the materials to be recycled. As this year’s pilot campaign only got underway after the promotional period had started, these tasks were done in the last few days. But, ideally, they should have been carried out much earlier.
Second, we allocated the jobs for the two teams: The student societies were responsible for dissembling their decoration, categorizing them for recycling (e.g. paper, cardboard, plastic and metal) and moving them to the collection point. The organizing committee set up a counter and weighed, collected and kept a record of the materials.
Third, the organizing committee sent an email to summarize the campaign and show their appreciation to all the participating societies.
Through the support from the Health Safety and Environment Office, we were also able to offer HK$200 as an incentive to the societies.
The experience was a valuable one for us. From trying to get the project off the ground before the deadline with only a small executive team of three students, to negotiating with more than 30 student societies, and feeling the joy when seeing the first participant and the burden of dealing with a large amount of waste, we were grateful for all the support that came to us, including the help from the Environment Management and Technology students and the Environment Students’ Society (EVSS).
Our sincere thanks also go to the Health, Safety and Environment Office. We could not have done this without any of you.
Thanks, also, to the 25 student societies who helped to sort and recycle over 450kg of waste, which was an amazing result for a project which went from conception to finishing in just two weeks.
Such encouraging result has taught us that we are all able to contribute something valuable to the university community. Yet it has also reminded us there is always room for improvement and more work to do if we want to help HKUST to be a greener campus.
