Empowering Educators for a Sustainable Future: Highlights from the KEL Waste Management Workshop

On 3rd December, Civic Exchange hosted the KEL Waste Management Workshop, bringing together educators to explore practical ways to promote sustainability and the circular economy within schools and communities. The workshop kicked off with a new game led by Green Earth, designed to help teachers understand the current waste generation situation in Hong Kong. Through this game, participants learned how to differentiate recyclable materials and the proper ways to recycle different products. With participants divided into groups and encouraged to compete on their recycling knowledge, everyone was highly engaged and thoroughly enjoyed the activity.

In the second part of the workshop, we visited O·PARK1, Hong Kong's first organic resources recovery centre located in Siu Ho Wan. O·PARK1 adopts anaerobic digestion technology to convert food waste into biogas (a source of renewable energy similar to natural gas) for electricity generation whilst the residues from the process can be produced as compost for landscaping and agriculture use. Participants were given an insightful tour of the facilities and learned about the complex process involved in sorting food waste before it can be turned into biogas. This reinforced the crucial message that clean recycling is essential.

Next, we travelled to Green@Islands, one of the main Green@Community stations in Tung Chung. There, participants learned about the work of Green@Community in Hong Kong and the challenges of conducting recycling efforts in remote areas such as outlying islands. We also had the chance to visit their community garden and book-swapping corner — two initiatives aimed at reducing waste at the source.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the participants who attended the workshop and contributed valuable insights on how schools can reduce waste and become greener under the standards of UNSECO’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Teachers shared helpful suggestions, such as making green audits compulsory at schools to assess waste generation and implementing food waste recycling bins in school canteens while educating students on their proper use. Additionally, it was suggested that schools conduct regular checks on water fountains to ensure quality, encouraging students to bring their bottles and reduce waste at the source.

Civic Exchange would like to express gratitude to all educators who participated in the workshop. This workshop served as a powerful reminder of the vital role educators play in shaping a sustainable future. By equipping teachers with the tools and knowledge to inspire their students, we are one step closer to building a greener, more conscious generation.