- 7-
As I have said, exact details are yet to be worked
out, but a proposal is now maturing to form groups of area
volunteers who, perhaps dressed in special T-shirts and
wearing distinctive arm bands, would go around ostentatiously
picking up litter in public and shaming those responsible
for dropping it. This type of action brings home the
lesson that if litter is dropped indiscriminately, someone,
somewhere, has to pick it up, and usually the public
purse has to pay.
Already there have been pledges of support from
responsible and forward-thinking bodies and firms, and if
we can convince the business community that what we
intend to do cannot be anything but good for Hong Kong,
then the support we get from the private sector will be
substantial. The nurturing of this support is a task for
the Industrial/Commercial Working Group.
People have said to me that it is pointless to try
to stop the existing indiscriminate dumping of litter and
that the anti-litter campaign, whilst admirable in its aim,
will have only impermanent results. This defeatist
attitude conveniently ignores the lesson that Singapore
has taught the world, and continues to teach. No-one in
his right mind would try to change an entire social
attitude within a month or even a year, but with sustained
efforts and first-class, well-shafted publicity over an
appreciable period, the Campaign Committee considers it
possible to change a thoughtless, uncaring populace into
one wholly/...