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36 / People

Lacking a way out
Hong Kong has long been struggling with waste prob-
lems. Regarding statistics from the Environmental Pro-
tection Department (EPD) in 2017, around 15,516 tonnes
of municipal solid waste were produced per day. The
three landfills, in Tseung Kwan O, Tuen Mun and Ta Ku
Ling respectively, are expected to be full by 2020.
Cheung points out the difficulty of recycling waste
materials in Hong Kong due to the absence of a manu-
facturing industry. “We don’t manufacture anything so
we cannot use waste material ourselves, we have to send
it off to somewhere else,” he says, “we don’t really have
much to say.” Recent changes in the Chinese govern-
ment policy on imported waste have also aggravated the 01
problem. “[Under the policy,] Hong Kong cannot export
raw waste material without filtering, while Hong Kong are dumped in landfills.
lacks a facility for waste filtering or recycling,” he says. It was not easy at the beginning. “[At first,]
Despite the poor recycling standard in Hong Kong, Cheung has they were quite reluctant to give you the waste
seen improvement in the recycling industry as the government has because they were not sure what you were do-
started to find better waste treatment methods. He cites the local ing,” Cheung says.
waste paper recycling and manufacturing plant that will be open The table has been turned upside down
next year in Tuen Mun as an example. “That’s a new baby step we now. As Cheung has built a notable portfo-
are taking,” says Cheung. lio, local and multinational companies have
started reaching out to him for collaborations.
Challenging the misfortune With his range of products and philosophy, he
Cheung observes that Chinese people associate rubbish with has attracted corporates like Citibank and non-
misfortune, “[The waste]’s for the dead people, it brings bad luck. I governmental organisations (NGO) such as
think that has to be changed,” Cheung says. Greenpeace for commissioned projects. “Every-
To create less waste, he emphasises the idea of “thinking twice thing I’m trying to do, it’s not just doing things
before buying”. He also conducts educational workshops in hopes that I like, but trying to inspire big corporations
of raising social awareness. Cheung explains the idea of the work- because they are the ones making the impact,”
shop is to help Hong Kong people adopt habits of using their own Cheung says.
hands to create or fix belongings, instead of buying new things they He notes most companies pursue a glam-
need. “[The habit of making something with your own hands] is orous style when organising events but it is
really important because when you stop using your hands, when- not difficult to move away from that culture.
ever you need [something], you just use money to buy it,” he says, “When one company does it, with a positive
“it also is a problem that impact, it’s very easy to inspire other compa-
When you stop ends up creating a lot of nies to follow.”
waste. People stop fix-
Aside from collaborating with the commer-
using your hands, ing it (things).” Cheung cial companies, Cheung has worked with St.
whenever you need provides life-warranty to James’s Settlement, a non-profitable organisa-
customers for his prod-
[something], you just use ucts. “Whenever [how tion located in Wan Chai. The NGO runs shel-
tered workshops for people with disabilities,
money to buy it, long], even four years, or and the workers have been helping Cheung
five years… If it breaks,
you bring it back to me with assembly work on his products.
Cheung’s creativity is not limited to com-
and I will fix it for you.” panies and social enterprises, his work also
relates to social movements. During the 2014
Expanding the spectrum Umbrella Movement, Cheung collected bro-
As a consideration for budget as well as the nature of the waste ken umbrellas that were left on the streets after
material, Cheung plays around with waste from corporates. When- clashes and created thumbnail pianos with ribs
ever he finds waste materials that are interesting in a landfill, he of umbrellas.
contacts relevant companies and asks for the materials before they Cheung sees a close linkage between social