A new record in environmental protection was recently set by 100,000 students in Hong Kong  ¡V more than 1.2 million supermarket plastic bags have been saved during the two-month "Use Fewer Plastic Bags" exercise of Phase One of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Green Child Campaign.  And to commend the Green Children for their hard work and further educate them on environmental awareness, a series of interesting green extra-curricular activities are now being organized by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.  Today (14 May) marks the official opening of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Green Child Environmental Week, a five-day event to be held at Sha Tin Racecourse, with Mrs Lily Yam, Secretary for the Environment and Food being the officiating guest.  

Awards were presented by the Hong Kong Jockey Club during the launch ceremony to acknowledge the schools for their outstanding performance during the "Use Fewer Plastic Bags" exercise. St. Joseph Primary School received recognition for the Highest Number of Student Participants (1,900); St. Clement's Primary School P.M. for the Highest Number of Receipts Collected (11,542 receipts); and S.S.S.W.H. Fertilizers & Rice Dealers Association Public School for the Highest Proportionate Number of Receipts Collected (an average of 20 receipts per student).

The "Use Fewer Plastic Bags" exercise commenced in early January.  100,000 students from 151 primary schools were each given a set of two environmentally friendly bags, one for their parents and one for themselves.  When they shopped with the bags at China Resources, PARKnSHOP, and Wellcome, the three retail partners of the Campaign, the receipts were imprinted with a special mark indicating the saving of plastic bags.  At the end of the exercise, the Hong Kong Jockey Club collected in excess of 400,000 imprinted receipts from the Green Children.

However, according to the announcement made by the representatives of the three supermarket chains today, the actual number of imprinted receipts issued was more than 1.2 million.  As each receipt represents a saving of at least one plastic bag, the exercise has thus made a significant impact.    

Mr Lawrence Wong, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, commented that Phase One of the Campaign had successfully raised environmental awareness amongst the students and their families, as evidenced by the encouraging result of the "Use Fewer Plastic Bags" exercise.   He further added that a series of green extra-curricular activities had been organized to reward the Green Children, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Green Child Environmental Week being one of them.  It is hoped that through these activities, the environmental awareness of these students will be further enhanced.

Some 20,000 students are scheduled to attend The Hong Kong Jockey Club Green Child Environmental Week which is now being held at Sha Tin Racecourse.  Through a series of interesting environmental games, the students will be introduced to the characteristics of seven types of plastic and their impact on the environment.  The students will each be given a specially designed booklet to further promote environmental protection and strengthen their environmental awareness.  In addition, demonstrations on the latest environmental and recycling technologies will be conducted to help the students recognize the importance of environmental protection.  The students will also be given an opportunity to meet the Jockey Club ponies and learn to care for small animals.

During today's ceremony, pop singer Miss Miriam Yeung and the Green Children also shared their environmental message and performed the Campaign theme song "Green Dream".  Miss Yeung was also honored as "Green Child Ambassador"' by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for her enormous support during the Campaign.

In addition to the five-day Environmental Week and the earlier Earth Day Carnival, other green extra-curricular activities include the Ocean Park Eco Tour in early June and the "Greener and Cleaner Classroom Planting Scheme" between April and August.  In addition, some participating schools have also applied for cash subsidies to organize their own extra-curricular activities or courses relating to environmental protection.