Press Release
6 th March 2013
VITA WATER wins the most popular “Brand on the Beach” award.
Living Lamma volunteers collected and sorted waste found in Pak Kok beach on Lamma Island by brand label. After 3 clean ups, 1112 plastic bottles with 761 different identifiable brand labels were found.
VITA WATER is the brand which has the most bottles (23% of all identifiable bottles) littering the beach surveyed. In second place is BONAQUA with 13% of bottles found. In third place was COOL Water with 11% of identifiable bottles found. A full report is attached.
Jo Wilson, campaigner at Living Lamma explained, “I was not surprised. People always think garbage on the beach comes drifting down the Pearl River Delta. We chose to monitor this beach as the rubbish we found there in the past largely contained local brands. Our findings show that beach litter is our own problem. Many people don’t realize that litter on the streets and slopes will end up in our seas, and back onto our beaches.”
Paul Zimmerman, CEO, Designing Hong Kong added, “We hope that brand names like VITA will take action and use their labeling to remind consumers to dispose bottles properly. At the same time, the Hong Kong community should consider adding a recycling charge onto plastic bottles and not just glass bottles, to promote recovery and return for recycling use.”
Living Lamma and Designing Hong Kong see the “Brand on the Beach” award event as part of a growing “Pick It Up” attitude in Hong Kong. People are responding to a positive attitude which promotes: “Don't just look at the trash or complain about it, pick it up.” Last summer, members of the public helped clear up plastic pellets after the Vicente Typhoon. The AFCD has removed waste bins from Country Parks and asks people to carry their waste out of the parks. An increasing number of people are getting involved in coastal clean-up campaigns.
“Next, we hope fast food chains will ask patrons to return their food tray to a cleaning station before leaving. Maybe they can consider discount coupons in return. It is no longer about ‘not littering’, but about ‘picking up’ garbage. A campaign everyone including retailers and brand companies can help with.” Paul Zimmerman concluded.
The next clean up on Lamma will be on Sunday April 14th, anyone who is interested please send email to Jo at livinglamma@yahoo.com
Enclosed:
1) ‘Brand on the Beach’ Report
2) ‘Brand on the Beach' Photo Gallery
For more information email debby@designinghongkong.com or call Debby Chan at 6011 7307 or 3104 3107.
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