Sustainability: Eco-Friendly Methods for Sickness Prevention and Symptom Relief, Reminders, and More!

Eco Awareness Campaign Committee (Juan Lucas Umali, Elizabeth Won, Henrietta Ko)
March 13, 2020

Did you know that getting sick is not only bad for your body, but bad for the Earth, too? According to the World Health Organisation, the by-products of health facilities worldwide include toxic, radioactive, and infectious waste. This poses a threat to both our atmosphere as well as all living creatures. 

So, in light of Hong Kong’s current situation, the Eco Campaign committee has put together a few eco-friendly methods to keep both you and our world healthy!

Hiking trail in Hong Kong. (Honeycombers)

​

Important reminders:

1. Dispose of face masks properly (they’re washing up on the beaches of Hong Kong and appearing on hiking trails and streets). Please keep our city clean!

2. During this time, there will be more waste from plastic hand sanitizer bottles and other cleaning products. If possible, please recycle these bottles (and make sure to clean them out too!).

Sickness Prevention:

Here are some eco-friendly ways to prevent yourself from getting sick:

Purchase hand sanitizers, soaps, and disinfectant sprays from eco-friendly brands!

• A word of caution though, avoid making DIY cleaning products as these have resulted in injuries and the effectiveness of these aren’t guaranteed

• Wash your hands properly! Don’t just give your hands a quick, soapless rinse. Not only is this useless against the virus, but it also unnecessarily wastes water. Instead, thoroughly scrub your hands with proper hand soap for 20 seconds. (As a guide, sing happy birthday twice.) 

• Eat plenty more fruit and vegetables than you would regularly — they contain sickness-fighting nutrients like Vitamin C, zinc, and selenium.

​​

On the Road to Recovery:

• Even when sick, there are still some eco-friendly methods that you can implement to ensure a speedy recovery alongside your prescriptions!

• With everyone hoarding tissue boxes and (for some reason) toilet paper, you can only imagine the waste produced by just one sick person in a household. For this reason, we urge you to give the trees a break and use hankies when blowing your nose. You can wash them after a few uses, too. 

• Honey ginger lemon tea is one of the best home-made remedies for the common cold. While it’s not to be used as an alternative to your prescribed medication, this tea will definitely soothe your sore throat and cough as you recover.

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to stay healthy!