Three local environmental advocacy groups – the Association of Synergy of Macau, Green Future and Macau Less Plastic Lifestyle – co-launched a map Monday that shows the locations of water fountains around the city, with the aim of encouraging the public to get their potable water from bubblers instead of buying bottled water.
Referring to data released by the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) in 2015, Un said that Macau produced about 17 tonnes of used disposable plastic bottles every day, pointing out that as an average-sized plastic bottle weighs 25 grammes, every day 680,000 plastic bottles were thrown away in that year, a number which exceeded the city’s population.
Macau’s population stood at 656,700 at the end of March.
Many casinos provide free bottled water, mostly in very small bottles.
Gamblers are often seen carrying more than one of the free mini-bottles so that they can drink them throughout the day before just throwing them away.
, When asked by The Macau Post Daily about the proportion of freebies among all disposable plastic bottles, Association of Synergy of Macau Director Ron Lam U Ton said that they did not have a figure due to a lack of research.However Lam added he believes that empty bottles from casinos make up a large slice of the city´s plastic waste.
Lam noted that people take the free bottled water from casinos not because they like bottled water, but simply because they are thirsty.
He said that in his view visitors would still drink water if the casinos provided drinking fountains instead of free bottled water, adding that he was looking forward to casinos installing drinking fountains so that they could include them in the next edition of their map.
He urged the government to limit the selling of water in small plastic bottles to help reduce Macau’s plastic waste.
The map provides information on 104 places such as universities, health centres, libraries, museums and service centres, displaying the address and opening hours of each of them, and whether cold, warm or hot water is provided.