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Big Waster will return to the Hong Kong Sevens this year to encourage the public to fully support green measures taken at the event venue and to "go green" by adopting the "use less, waste less" habit while enjoying the spectacular tournament.

The Hong Kong Sevens is an annual mega sporting event in Hong Kong. In order to promote a "greener" Sevens, the Environment Bureau (ENB) last year teamed up with the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) for the first time to trial a number of waste reduction and recycling initiatives in collaboration with the key stakeholders of the event.

The Under Secretary for the Environment, Ms Christine Loh, officiated at the opening of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Women's Sevens at King's Park today (March 26). Big Waster was also there to remind the public to waste less.

Following the successful experience of last year's event, Ms Loh said that Big Waster, a popular character from the Food Wise Hong Kong Campaign, would return to Hong Kong Stadium this year to promote the public message of "use less, waste less". In addition, the event organiser would also continue to adopt the green measures of last year, such as providing additional recycling bins to facilitate waste separation; arranging the collection of recyclables like plastic, food waste, glass bottles and waste paper for recycling; and collaborating with food caterers to arrange the donation of surplus food to reduce food wastage.

To further reduce waste produced at large-scale events, Ms Loh said that the implementation of a waste audit by event organisers could further improve waste reduction work in addition to the provision of recycling facilities and the display of waste reduction messages. Initiated by the ENB, the waste audit will be conducted for the three-day Hong Kong Sevens by a professional waste management company this year, with a view to formulating a more comprehensive and appropriate waste reduction and recycling plan for future use.

During last year's Hong Kong Sevens tournament, about 7.9 tonnes of paper, 5.6 tonnes of glass bottles, 3 tonnes of plastic and 1 tonne of food waste were collected and recycled for further use. In addition, a total of 1.5 tonnes of surplus edible food was collected, which produced some 1 250 hot meal boxes for distribution to people in need, while 400 litres of used cooking oil was collected for the manufacturing of biodiesel.

Ms Loh expressed her heartfelt thanks to the HKRFU, other organisations and stakeholders for their support and efforts in making the mega sporting event greener. With the successful experience of the "Green Sevens", she hoped that such green initiatives could be extended to other major events in Hong Kong, so as to further enhance public awareness of waste reduction and disseminate the message to different sectors of the community.