Last year, 11 Hong Kong women from the Tatler community joined forces to fight one of our world’s most pressing issues: single-use plastics. Known collectively as EcoDrive Hong Kong, they've been running outreach and education programmes at Hong Kong schools, private members clubs and local sports teams to reduce their plastic footprint (and that's just the start). In our latest series, get to know these 11 inspirational women who are making Hong Kong a greener place. Up next is Jennifer Wang-Fang, committee member for Adventist Hospital’s Women of Hope and budding eco-warrior:
Why and how did you decide to become one of the founders of EcoDrive?
My friend Yolanda Choy-Tang was posting a lot of photos on social media and I was commenting so much that she invited me to join her crusade to fight plastic pollution in Hong Kong. We agreed that our efforts must make a significant impact to improve the plastic crisis in Hong Kong. I'm learning more and more about the issues each day, and feel that I can be a contributor as well as an influencer to improve Hong Kong for future generations.
Tell us about your personal background when it comes to environmental issues.
I come from a traditional family where we were taught not to be wasteful with resources. My dad uses a pencil until the length is just shorter than his pinky and when we were kids, mum gave us a three-sheet maximum for toilet paper.
Just over five years ago, I did a huge detox for my own health and made my home and family chemical free. Any type of chemical is harmful to one's health as well as the environment. If you abuse your body when you are young, no money or power can get it back after you have damaged it severely. Similarly, we all need to do our part in saving resources and reducing pollution, because there is no Planet B.
Why are you passionate about reducing single-use plastics?
It's so easy to replace—people are not aware and don't realise the harm it's doing to our planet and ourselves. With education and a willingness to make small behavioural changes, we can collectively make a huge impact.
In Hong Kong, five million plastic water bottles are sent to landfill daily, with only 6% being recycled. If each of the 7 million residents in Hong Kong used their own reusable water bottle or installed a water filter instead of buying one plastic bottle a day, we wouldn't have this huge problem.
Hong Kong has two endangered species—the White Chinese Dolphin and the Green Turtle—that are swimming in plastic-infested waters, and dangerously close to becoming extinct. Researchers found that 60% of Hong Kong mullet fish contain microplastic, which has been linked to many metabolic diseases as well as early childhood neurological development disorders when ingested.