A hiker’s video criticising mountain trail litter bugs was shared widely over the Christmas break.
Celia Fung was hiking around Tai Mo Shan on Tuesday afternoon. She said she spent more than 20 minutes clearing trash totalling more than 10kg with a friend. Many of the items were reusable, but were abandoned by unknown people.
“I seriously warn anyone who does not know how to recycle and clear their own rubbish: don’t fucking hike and camp again, pretending you are close to nature,” she said.
The reusable items included camp mats, lamps, utensils, metal lunch boxes. There was also water bottles and aluminium cans that could be recycled. Other items included food waste and packaging.
The video was viewed over 200,000 times and shared over 2,800 times since it was uploaded on Tuesday night.
“We were stared at by people when we moved them downhill – they thought we threw rubbish on the mountain,” she said. “How much energy did we have to spend to move them down? The wind was so strong.”
She found a membership card with the name of an internet cafe chain but was unable to identify the person, or whether they were responsible for the trash.
“If you left the rubbish on the mountain top, I urge you, please, please, please, don’t do this again, do you know how much trouble you have brought to other people?” she said. “Not only us, think of other refuse collectors – how can you bear having them move all this from the mountain top?”
She said she was concerned that people had brought their habits from the city into the countryside: “The country parks will become another landfill.”
