Plastic ranks the third highest in Hong Kong’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), with single-use plastic bags counting a large percentage, according to the government statistics of 2020. At the same time, there are over 330,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong as key consumers who buy groceries at wet markets and consume plastic packages at weekend gatherings. How is their role overlooked in the case of plastic use? What solutions can be made for the inter-Asia flow of plastic waste? How can we transfer scientific knowledge of plastic reduction to language understood by the general public who could be foreign domestic helpers and let them have a dialogue with students and stakeholders?

To innovate solutions for plastic reduction, we are proposing a set of community activities with the framework of Design Thinking. We will first have a beach clean-up and art workshop joined by students and domestic workers to build their empathy on plastic reduction; we then train university students into plastic-free innovators through a design thinking workshop; we finally conduct short environmental documentary screenings in the local community, understand FDWs’ behaviours in plastic consumption, suggest prototypes and test the prototypes.

There will be 20 university students trained into plastic-free innovators, outreaching to 20 domestic workers from local NGO, and 700 FDWs and citizens. We will set up an online platform to share the creative process and invite for media coverage, which will reach out to around 10000 general public.

1. Students and the public will be aware of the intercultural and inter-Asia dimensions of plastic pollution;


2. Students put forth innovative solutions for FDWs’ plastic consumption;


3. Students and workers achieve a multi-media environmental education through video screening and surveys.

2023

Sustainability, Well-being