Tree Planting in Malaysia
Destination Asia is offering the opportunity for groups to join in a tree planting program to help offset carbon emissions. The project is led by The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Corporate Communication Unit (CCU) alongside the Malaysian Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB). Apart from natural forest tree planting as a corporate social responsibility activity, an organization may also opt for a memorial tree planting – to mark specific event. In this instance the tree will be planted in a prime area of FRIM. The Institute has been declared a Natural Heritage Site in 2009 and National Heritage in 2012, and therefore is a great honor to be able to plant trees in. All necessary planting tools are provided by FRIM and participants are encouraged to be actively involved. The minimum number of trees for corporate tree planting activity is 30 people. This includes a plaque to mark the planting activity/occasion.
Hong Kong Coastal Cleanup
While the streets of Hong Kong remain pleasantly clean compared to many towns and cities in Asia, there is an environmental concern that is growing day-by-day. Where does all the refuse go? Hong Kong covers an area of 1,104 square kilometers with a population of over seven million, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Every day in Hong Kong over 16,000 tons of waste is thrown away – these include an estimated 1,368,000 disposable plastic bottles, 1,000 tons of plastic bags and a seemingly endless amount of plastic wrapping and packaging.
The Hong Kong Cleanup Challenge is an enterprise set up by local companies to tackle this issue. Every year they organize three challenges; ‘City Cleanup’, ‘Country Cleanup’ and ‘Coastal Cleanup’. While we are working on initiatives to reduce plastic waste from the source, Destination Asia Hong Kong regularly joins the Coastal Cleanup Challenge to raise awareness of the vast amounts of marine debris that are clogging the spectacular beaches and marine life around the islands.
During the cleanup we assign a person to data collection who notes exactly what has been collected and from where, as well as taking pictures. This data is then fed back to the Hong Kong Cleanup team who consolidate it and use the information to target specific areas in the future, as well as putting steps into place to limit the amount of refuse entering our ocean.