Volunteer groups hit the streets of Mong Kok on Sunday evening and early Monday morning to clean up large piles of trash left on the streets of Mong Kok during the Lunar New Year food market.
Photographs of the trash — which had accumulated over three days — were posted on Facebook angering netizens, with some going as far as arguing that maybe Hongkongers don’t deserve to have a Lunar New Year food market if this is how they’re going to dispose of their waste.
According to a message posted on Facebook yesterday, a small team of volunteers took to the streets of Mong Kok near Langham Place to clean up some of the mess in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The post said the team had been cleaning from 1am to 4am, and photos posted on the group show the team not just throwing out trash, but also organizing them for recycling.
Get these guys some gold stars, now.
Outrage about the mountains of trash accumulating on the streets of Mong Kok began after netizens posted about it on Facebook over Chinese New Year.
One post about the trash was from a user called Kawan Leung, who wrote: “You take some selfies, post them onto Facebook and Instagram, have fun and then go home, but it’s not you who does the cleaning, you’re making it difficult for cleaning staff, you don’t have to go to work, but they now have a lot of work to do.”
Leung’s post has since gone viral, prompting netizens to comment: “Hongkongers are no better than mainlanders”, “before Hongkongers used to love Hong Kong, now they don’t,” and “Hongkongers don’t deserve a Lunar New Year food market.”
However, others commented: “Why didn’t the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department put out more trash cans?” While others argued that the government is at fault for reducing the number of trash cans in the city.
Others worried that the trash would prompt the authorities to step in and clamp down on the food market again, two years after the Fishball Revolution, which saw the streets of Mong Kok rocked by violent protests because of a conflict between protesters and authorities over the clearing of unlicensed street hawkers during Chinese New Year.
“Hongkongers should be more like Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan, there’s no trash anywhere,” remarked one netizen, who listed three places known for their street food and cleanliness.
Other netizens also suggested that market-goers should in the future bring their own utensils and vendors should be prohibited from handing out disposable ones.
We’re not sure how realistic the last one would be. We do know, however, that though it’s difficult to enjoy delicious grilled chicken without making a bit of a mess yourself, it’s certainly not too much to ask to not leave a mess for other people.
