Hello, everyone! This is Morris Ho from Hong Kong Branch. In this blog article, I would like to introduce a recent Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) activity organized by our neighbor office, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust (Hong Kong) Limited (SMTHK). Below is the blog article prepared by SMTHK:

“Hello everyone! This is Kitty Luk from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust (Hong Kong) Limited (SMTHK). I would like to share the first SDG activity held in SMTHK this year – SMTHK Lai See Packets Reuse and Recycling Program 2023.

This is the second year for SMTHK to collect and recycle used Lai See Packets to Greeners Action.

The event was held from 26 January to 24 February 2023 after the Chinese New Year. One of the traditions in the Chinese New Year is “red-packet-giving”. According to the survey conducted by Greeners Action, a total of 63 million red packets are recycled by Hong Kong people throughout the campaign, this is equivalent to deforesting 3,200 trees.

Greeners Action is a local registered charitable environmental group established in 1993 and registered under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. It aims to engage the public to promote the environmental messages and focus on the social environmental issues. The “Lai See packet Reuse and Recycling Program” is an annual signature event organized by Greeners Action and it has been organized for 14 years.

There is a culture of “Out with the old, in with the new” in the traditional of Chinese Society, which often results in a lot of unnecessary wastes. This event aims to encourage people to be environmentally friendly while enjoying the Chinese New Year tradition.

With the support of our colleagues, we collected 2,286 “Lai See Packets” in total (including 140 “Lai See Packets” that do not meet the recycling requirement) for the year of Rabbit and have sent them to the public collection point. Comparing with year 2022, 504 more Lai See Packets have been collected. In order to encourage and develop an environmentally friendly habit, it is considered to hold it again in the future.”