Students Fail Their Peers On Sustainable Consumption

A survey by students at eight secondary schools has found their peers have relatively little awareness of the concept of sustainable consumption.

More than 600 secondary school students were polled between January and February.

Three-quarters thought sustainable products were simply those which are cheaper and therefore easier for consumers to buy, and most had never considered factors such as the packaging and raw materials used in a product when making purchases.

Anton Yu, a form six student who helped to conduct the survey, said schools should teach more about sustainable consumption.

"As recycling is actually a global topic, I think students can normally get more knowledge on it. However, for sustainable consumption, the only thing closely linked to this topic is sustainable development," said Yu.

Maria Cheung, chief executive of the Fair Trade Hong Kong Foundation which helped organise the survey, said students generally have a passive attitude towards sustainable consumption.

"Schools and the government can do more... it's good to have some cross-subject education, rather than just having one subject to talk about a particular topic, like sustainable consumption. It will be more effective," Cheung said.