The NGO’s latest campaign starring actor and model Adam Pak has set tongues wagging. Its founder Yolanda Choy-Tang tells Tatler why she wants to make sustainability sexy
A campaign by Hong Kong NGO Ecodrive on reducing consumption of single-use-plastics has been storming screens and billboards across Hong Kong this month and gaining traction on social media.
In a video for the Enough Plastic campaign, actor and model Adam Pak is shopping for groceries when he finds himself sharing a steamy moment with a cashier—it ends with Pak peeling off his sweater and folding it into an improvised grocery bag. The 30-second spot has all the hallmarks of a great Hong Kong comedy movie: lust, innuendo, physical comedy and—maybe most trademark of all—a wholesome message.
Yolanda Choy-Tang, co-founder of Ecodrive and longtime ecological campaigner, says this lighthearted approach is meant to start a serious discussion about reducing single-use plastic waste. “We know that the environment isn’t a very sexy subject, Nobody really wants to talk about trash, so we needed to find a way to make it sexy and fashionable.” Choy-Tang co-founded EcoDrive in 2018, and this marks the NGO’s third campaign to rehabilitate a plastic-addicted public.
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This year, Ecodrive is also rolling out the Carbon Wallet app, which allows users to scan store receipts to track their reduction of plastic waste while earning “green rewards”, such as free gifts and MTR rides.
Hongkongers throw away an astonishing 4.2 billion plastic shopping bags a year, according to the Environmental Protection Department. “That’s all going into landfills —but even worse, it’s also going into our streets and our oceans,” says Choy-Tang. Ecodrive works with local corporations, public agencies and schools to promote sustainable practices—but she stresses that we all have a role to play in reducing our use of single-use plastics.
“I would consider this year’s campaign a win if we could get someone to break just one habit—to give up one form of plastic—even for just a month,” Choy-Tang adds. “That’s why we coined the slogan Start Small, Start Now, because we don't believe in [achieving] absolutely zero-waste. What we want is for people to make a choice, and to try to choose wiser.”