Meet the group of passionate women who are fighting single-use plastics in Hong Kong
"Ocean’s 8" might be the talk of the town, but Hong Kong has its own "Ocean’s 11" who’ve just released their latest blockbuster—a short film highlighting the city’s ever-pressing plastics problem.
Shot over 10 days in Hong Kong, “Start Small, Start Now” is a collaboration between award-winning film duo Photo Escapes and EcoDrive, a non-profit organisation founded in November 2017 by 11 Hong Kong women who—instead of planning a heist—are masterminding the demise of single-use plastics.
They include Tatler 500 listers Emily Lam-Ho, Yolanda Choy-Tang, Tansy Lau-Tom and Angela Cheng-Matsuzawa (see the full list of founders below)—all of whom are coincidentally mothers, and influential women in their own right.
Together, they’re championing change in Hong Kong corporations and schools through educational film screenings, audits and advice on reducing single-use plastics and tailored events such as panel discussions and speakers series.
EcoDrive Hong Kong
Since November, EcoDrive Hong Kong has screened “A Plastic Ocean” (a documentary showing the startling amount of plastic pollution in our seas) to over 9,000 individuals, advised Hong Kong’s private members clubs on how to reduce their disposable plastic usage and educated over 4,000 students on the subject of single-use plastics.
With partners including the Plastic Oceans Foundation, Plastic Free Seas, WWF and Jane Goodall Institute, the focus is very much on educating the next generation.
“It’s really for the children,” said EcoDrive co-founder Sherry Fung at the premiere of “Start Small, Start Now," the group's first-ever original production.
“We’re not going to see all the changes because we’re leaving the world to our children. My quote [for EcoDrive] is, ‘We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.’”
Fellow EcoDrive co-founder Emily Lam-Ho also shared how motherhood changed her perspective on recycling.
“I lived in America for so many years when I was studying and I was always recycling, but there was never really a purpose behind it—it was just ingrained. But, the purpose became stronger the second I became a mom because there’s suddenly a reason why you’re doing this.”
