Zero waste travel guide: Hong Kong

As I  mentioned in a previous post , I have recently came back from a great big trip to Hong Kong ! Apart from the impressive city , where I felt the clash of the western world with original Chinese culture , i was even more impressed by the zero waste attitude.
Yes, because let’s be honest... I wasn’t expecting to find any (Maybe I was a naive traveller...). ​

To begin with, as soon as I landed I found water fountains with drinking water in the airport with signs to bring your own container. And no straws policies in many fast food retailers. And recycling bins available in some areas. And of course , a great zero waste conference where they didn’t print the abstract book, we had lunch on biodegradable plates (then switched to real plates!) and we had a reusable coffee cup made on purpose for all delegates for our coffee breaks. Impressed.
Yet this attitude was shown mostly by the bigger retailers and was a bit lost on the daily habits of everyday people of ‘taking away’ foods in the typical polystyrene take away boxes which many (or even, most) people make use of. 
So - maybe the despite bigger efforts made by some bigger retails, it is the small and real communities that should be tackled when information is shared? 

Nonetheless I found some great zero- waste life finds to adopt into my daily life:


A) a face-wash cloth  made of ‘microfibre’ - that deep cleans your skirt removing dirt from your pores and only requires water. Gentle enough. Washable and reusable - win for me and win for the planet. And did I mention that it only cost me the equivalent of 2 euros?

B) ear cleaning kit , 3 pieces of washable and reusable ‘sticks’ to remove wax instead of the disposable ones! Again very cheap ..

C) stainless steel lunch box (which actually closes and doesn’t leak) and again - at a reasonable price ! Not the overpriced things that now make because ‘zero waste’ is fashionable (but more on this later)
D) hair drying glove made of absorbing material to dry your hair (so no hair dryer needed!) 
So to wrap up, despite some improving areas , Hong Kong is doing something to help the citizen reduce waste - but as always, it’s up to the people!