By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-31 11:21:23 | Updated at 2025-04-02 01:20:17
1 day ago
The three-day Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament generated about 860,000 disposable items after spectators were banned from bringing their own reusable containers, according to Greenpeace.
It left the green group, on Monday, once again urging Kai Tak Sports Park to reinstall a reusable cup system that had been in place for the annual tournament in 2019, 2023 and 2024 before it was scrapped this year, for its long-term sustainability development.
The group said the operator should kick-start the system as soon as possible, with the newly open stadium expected to host at least 40 more large-scale events a year.
“Otherwise, the more mega-events the park hosts, the bigger the snowball will be. More and more disposable tableware would be produced [after each event], and that would fundamentally violate the park’s goal in sustainability,” Greenpeace campaigner Leanne Tam Wing-lam said.
Lam said the group learnt that the sport’s governing body Hong Kong China Rugby tried to negotiate with the park to bring back the initiative this year, but to no avail.
Jamie Farndale, Hong Kong China Rugby’s general manager of club development and sustainability told the Post on Monday that green cups “could indeed become a viable option” for the park when it became more established and had gained insights into event frequency and cup reuse.
“However, given that this was the first event and Kai Tak’s primary focus was on getting operations under way, we strongly encouraged them to utilise fully compostable packaging, ensuring that organic material was collected and processed correctly through their on-site composter,” Farndale said.
