On Saturday, Big Wave Bay in Hong Kong witnessed what was announced by Volvo Cars to be the first of many beach clean ups across Hong Kong and Mainland China.
The event, in conjunction with HK Clean Up, challenged guests to collect as much rubbish, including plastic, from the beach in the space of just one hour. The purpose? To help address and tackle the growing issue of marine plastic pollution.
Following a challenge laid out by Volvo Cars CEO, Håkan Samuelsson, back in October in Alicante for employees to take action over this marine plastic issue, Volvo Cars is undertaking beach clean ups across the world at various stopovers of the Volvo Ocean Race. Hong Kong was the third continent in which these beach clean ups have taken place.
Guests to the beach clean up included Swedish Ambassador to China, Anna Lindstedt; Lisette Lindahl, Swedish General Consul in Shanghai; and Helena Strom, Swedish General Consul in Hong Kong. They were joined by Volvo Ocean Race sailors, international media and Volvo Car customers and dealers.
“A crucial part of our sustainability effort at Volvo Cars is to help reduce plastic pollution and protect ocean health," said Xiaolin Yuan, SVP Asia Pacific.
"Our action today is exactly how we plan to exercise our commitment in this regard as well as a kick-off event leading to more actions in the coming months and years.
"The Beach Cleanup event is to raise awareness of the global plastic pollution problem through a fun and easy way. Afterwards we will carry out a series of campaigns in mainland China to amplify the messages we raise here today."
The Hong Kong beach clean-up is just one in a series of sustainability initiatives that Volvo Cars are executing in line with the Volvo Ocean Race including using a proportion of the sales of the V90 Cross Country Volvo Ocean Race vehicle to fund a pioneering science programme.
The programme, a first of its kind, bringing science and a major global sporting event together, sees two of the Volvo Ocean Race boats collecting data from the most remote part of the world as they race around the planet.
The next beach clean-up in line with the Volvo Ocean Race stopovers will take place in Auckland in March.