Reduce, reuse, recycle: How Hong Kong’s marathon can go for gold and set standards for the city’s mega events

2026-01-25 - 21:07

When talking about sustainability initiatives, it’s worth thinking about the mantra “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle.” The word “Reduce” comes first because reducing waste in the first place is the ideal outcome. Recycling is something of a bronze medal. The 2018 Hong Kong Marathon. Photo: The Green Earth. No shade on bronze medals: getting on the podium is still an excellent achievement! But recycling waste that never needed to be produced is never as sustainable as avoiding that waste in the first place. With the “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” hierarchy in mind, the Hong Kong Marathon’s sustainability initiatives include some good ideas. Since 2019 the full runners’ handbook has been distributed online – reducing the amount of paper needed for hard copies. Given that this year’s runner’s guide is a hefty 90 pages, not only does that save a lot of trees, it’s a decent monetary saving in printing costs too. Aside from the reduction in paper, most of the other sustainability efforts have leaned into recycling. The handbook suggested that runners bring their own container and towel to reduce the reliance on disposable cups and sponges on the route (something that Hong Kong’s trail races achieve pretty well); but that advice was buried in page 64 of the marathon runner’s guide. The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon on January 18, 2026. Photo: Facebook, via Standard Chartered HK Marathon. Of course, even if the “bring your own cup” initiative was better promoted, not every runner would be in a position to do so. People forget, or find it hard to, haul cups and towels through an already gruelling race. In any case, this is one of those circumstances where aiming for a 100 per cent reduction in waste is overambitious, and having a pragmatic recycling strategy makes more sense than letting people dehydrate. The paper cups provided at hydration stations did indeed have a solid recycling plan in place, with well-separated collection bins sending the cups to the specialist recycler Mil Mill. (A quick note – the cups from the Hong Kong Marathon were described as paper cups. In everyday life most “paper” cups have a plastic lining in them, as do “paper” drinks cartons. These plastic lined cups and cartons can’t be recycled in regular paper recycling plants, and need to go to specialist recycling bins; but because they look like paper, many people mistakenly throw them into paper recycling bins. While the sentiment is noble, “wishcycling” actually reduces recycling rates, as contaminated waste tends to be discarded by recycling plants.) It’s pleasing to see the marathon organisers aiming to be sustainable, with some “reduce” and a lot of “recycle.” But, just like I tell my pals who run a 4:01 marathon: I’m genuinely proud of you, but you know what to aim for next year! The most obvious opportunity to improve on sustainability is to move up the “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” hierarchy and reduce the amount of stuff given away in the first place. The contents of the Hong Kong Marathon giveaway bag. Photo: HKFP. 75,000 runners picking up their bibs are a captive market, and I can see why sponsors love the opportunity to include giveaways alongside the running bibs. A (plastic-wrapped) marathon t-shirt is a wonderful memento, but perhaps people can have the choice to decline one if they already have plenty of running tops? Other gewgaws ranged from plastic sachets of sunscreen and electrolytes, to slightly weirder choices like packets of honey, non-rechargeable batteries and phone card holders – most of which I hear anecdotally are thrown straight into the trash. All of these giveaways were distributed in a blue plastic bag. To be fair, that bag was re-used for baggage storage on race day, but, moving even higher up the “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” hierarchy, maybe baggage storage could be done without the need for 75,000 plastic bags. Runners’ belongings stored at Victoria Park during the 2026 marathon. Photo: HKFP. The finish line saw finishers given another bag containing a plastic bottle of distilled water and a second plastic bottle of sports drink. Yes, those bottles are, strictly speaking recyclable; but asking 75,000 exhausted runners to each properly recycle those two bottles is not a reliable sustainability strategy. Judging by mis-sorted waste evident at the end, that reliance is misplaced. It seems a shame at the very end of the race to regress to plastic bottles when the drinks stations on the course had a recycling plan for paper cups. As tantalising as it is for marketers to reach captive audiences, surely a truly sustainable event would find a better method than indiscriminately dishing out plastic-wrapped, landfill-destined giveaways to all 75,000 runners? I am not trying to be a party-pooper and stop people from enjoying the delicious feeling of getting freebies; but surely there’s a way for brands to achieve that in a way that does not blithely trash the environment. The Hong Kong Marathon has made good efforts in becoming sustainable, with recycling initiatives being at the core of its strategy. To aim for gold, the next milestone is to reduce the amount of waste in the first place. HKFP is an impartial platform & does not necessarily share the views of opinion writers or advertisers. HKFP presents a diversity of views & regularly invites figures across the political spectrum to write for us. Press freedom is guaranteed under the Basic Law, security law, Bill of Rights and Chinese constitution. 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