To minimise waste generation and cultivate a culture of reuse in our communities, we have continually been scaling up our programmes to provide F&B tenants with reusable options. In 2020, we piloted Hong Kong’s first smart reusable cup network at Taikoo Place. The system operates by customers asking for a reusable cup when placing an order, then returning the cup and lid to a return station, where it is then thoroughly cleaned and returned to service.

Building on the success of the smart reusable cup concept, the programme has gradually been expanded to more of our portfolios and F&B outlets. We also expanded the options to include reusable food boxes at Taikoo Place. As of 31 December 2024, the programme had expanded to 33 F&B outlets across Taikoo Place, Pacific Place and Cityplaza, with 18 return stations in these locations. Since the programme’s inception, we have kept more than 37,000 single-use containers out of landfills.

We also trialled a new “self-borrowing” mechanism with a Taikoo Place F&B tenant this year, where customers can take a reusable food box or cup themselves, instead of requesting one from a store manager. This has improved the visibility of the programme – in the first month, over 220 items were borrowed from the restaurant.

We also rolled out the Green Corporate Catering Programme at Taikoo Place in April 2024, in which tenants are encouraged to use our smart reusable cups and food boxes for their events to minimise the use of single-use takeaway packaging from catering services. Since the full rollout, we successfully catered 33 events, keeping over 4,600 disposable items out of landfills.

We also sought to ramp up our promotion of the Smart Reusable Cup and Food Box Programme this year to raise awareness and to encourage people to give it a try. First, to celebrate the opening of a new coffee shop in Taikoo Place, we offered complimentary coffee for tenants who borrowed a reusable cup or brought their own. Over the three-week promotion, there were 3,000 redemptions, i.e. 3,000 single-use cups diverted from landfills. Later in the year, we offered a HKD20 discount via the Taikoo Place app for users who borrowed a reusable food box or cup for their takeaway order. The promotion featured 22 F&B tenants from Taikoo Place and Cityplaza. Over its 10-week run, there were over 500 redemptions. The initiative was also well received by F&B tenants.

The impressive redemption figures highlight the effectiveness of these campaigns in driving new habits and fostering sustainable practices. This momentum was also sustained even after the campaigns, with an increasing number of individuals becoming regular users of the platform.

In April 2024, the Hong Kong government’s regulation on single-use plastics came into effect. Swire Properties had been preparing for this legislation for some years, undertaking numerous initiatives to ensure our compliance long before the ban came into effect. In one example, back in 2021, over 800 rooms at EAST Hong Kong, EAST Beijing and The Upper House had in-room water filtration systems installed, eliminating the need for bottled water in rooms and avoiding using 16 tonnes of plastic bottles each year.

Apart from single-use takeaway packaging, the ban also mandates that hotels and guest houses can only offer non-plastic alternatives for free, or charge guests for a selection of plastic amenities. EAST Hong Kong and The Upper House have identified and replaced regulated plastic items, such as cotton buds, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower caps and combs, with non-plastic alternatives.