Lizette Smook's Blog

Genie Juicery Biodegradable bottles

Genie Juicery Biodegradable bottles

Biodegradable beer cup for Fosters, Heineken and San Miguel

Biodegradable food containers - ZERO toxicity to leach into food - 100% natural

Every year we have a large event with several teams volunteering to "clean up" the city, parks and beaches with teams that literally go and pick up garbage. Thank you Ecovision 
Every year the "trashing" continues and we repeat this cycle on the clock.
The same I guess applies to the Sevens Rugby tournament sponsored by Cathay Pacific (http://www.cathaypacific.com/) where the internal Cathay Corporate Social Responsible principles are not extended to the Sevens Rugby Stadium and large volumes of fast food packaging and plastic cups are swept into landfill annually.
Or we could possibly compare the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon (https://www.sc.com/hk/) where the mountains of plastic cups left at every water stop is swept into landfill and forgotton. 
Although one has to admit that the repetitiveness of trashing and then cleaning up and just filling the landfill is quite bizarre - one tends to look for the few but present changes that are happeing and one wants to tell the whole world that there are some businesses (although smaller) who are taking action to reduce the load on the incinerator and who are looking at the impact of loading more and more toxic plastic into our oceans and our landfill.
I was utterly surprised to learn that Genie Juicery in Central actaully walk their talk! The bottles they are using to bottle their juices are biodegradable. (http://www.geniejuicery.com/) That is quite amazing for a new and Entrepreneurial business in Hong Kong to set the example and wlk their talk of NOT adding to landfill but considering the future of Hong Kong. Well done Genie Juicery - you deserve the best in business and I wish you well. If you are looking for a wastewise nomination - please knock on my door. 
And then there is Chachawan - (https://www.facebook.com/chachawan.hongkong) the most exquisite menu in Hong Kong with totally biodegradable and natural take away food containers. No plastic and polystyrene that can leach all kinds of toxins into your food. Finally a set-up that care about their customers BUT also care about the environment - so their environemntal footprint is minimized as well. 
There is a papercup under development for HK market that will be 100% biodegradable. Many consumers do not know that a papercup as we know it from all fast food outlets in Hong Kong is totally filling landfill and is NOT biodegradable. The PE or plastic or polyethylene liner inside the cup makes the cup waterproof but is not biodegradable. To reduce the impact on the environment we need to convert the PE coating inside the cup to something that is biodegradable yet still provides some waterproof function. Some attempts have been made to line the cups with cornstarch BUT these linings are (a) heat sennsitive andnot great for hot drinks and (b) carries a premium or cost a lot more.
The new papercup will be launched in December and is 100% biodegradable yet still lined with PE but a PE that is modified to be biodegradable. (This same modification is possible for straws and for beer cups at SEVENS rugby!) lets hope and pray Foster's (http://www.fostersgroup.com/about/international-beer.aspx), Heineken (http://www.theheinekencompany.com/age-gate?returnurl=%2fbrands) and  San Miguel (http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/news/page/811/San_Miguel_Brewing_Internation...) put their money where their mouth is and reduce their environmental footprint with a cup that loks the same and feels the same and does not cost a lot more but is 100% biodegradable. Would that not be wonderfull to take a little pressure off the landfill in 2015 when we have the Sevens tournament in Hong Kong. Foster's, Heineken and San Miguel, you can make a difference to Hong Kong. 
Should chnages mentioned be implemented the load on the incineraor would be reduced BUT the amount of garbage through Ecovison "Clean-Up' would be greatly reduced as well! 
I guess if there is less "trashing" there is less 'clean-up' required after ourselves and there is less toxic stuff filling the landfill and leaching into the land and the water table and litter the oceans. 
We have to start somewhere .......
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