Our Art and Sustainability committee was set up in April 2022 in response to the climate emergency and as a way of future-proofing our community. Notwithstanding the reduced air travel that most people across the world witnessed in 2020 to 2022 due to pandemic restrictions, climate change and extreme weather continues to threaten the livelihood of our precious ecosystems and natural environments. While art has always been a form of cultural expression, manifestation of civilisation and a form of therapy for humans, we endeavour to find inspiration to be creators in a way that complements and supports our mother earth. Headed by Ms May Yeung, sculptor and artist actively engaged in creating sustainable art work for the community out of repurposed materials, Faith in Love is currently the only Hong Kong NGO engaged in creating repurposed art out of discarded or non-recyclable waste material. Currently we collect glass, plastics, metal, and other hybrid material from building sites and from beach, shoreline, and ocean clean up efforts.

Typically used as transparent glazing material in the building envelope, glass is also used for internal partitions and as an architectural feature. When used in buildings, glass is often of a safety type, which include reinforced, toughened and laminated glasses.

Wikipedia Architectural Glass

Tempered glass is one such type of glass. But is it recyclable? For a short answer, tempered glass is not recyclable. It’s because the process of creating it makes up to five times stronger than normal, untreated glass.

Thinking Sustainably

Laminated, coated, and tempered glass is used commonly in all buildings in Hong Kong. Inevitably sometimes glass gets broken, and due to lack of recycling options, most of demolition waste from buildings just gets tipped into a landfill, or worse sometimes illegally dumped into our natural environment. It’s time we do something about that.

Members of the Art and Sustainability (Artsus) committee:
May Yeung – Artsus Committee Chairperson
Eric Ho – Artist
Bernice Liu – Digital Transformation
Wendy Chan – Hong Kong clean ocean advocate
Gigi Chao – Coordinator