Early History
The Green Student Council was founded in 1993 by a group of secondary school students who cared about nature. They met in the "Green Hope Scheme" (綠色希望計劃) organized by Friends of the Earth. Encouraged by Friends of the Earth, the students established the Green Secondary School Students Union, later renamed the Green Student Council.
The current president, Ho Hon Wan (何翰威), a graduate of the University of Hong Kong, is also one of the founders of the council who devoted himself to discouraging the consumption of plastic bags. In 1999, he initiated the "newspaper doesn't need plastic bag" day. It attracted a lot of attention from the media, but the government did not take up the call for a plastic bag tax. In 2003, he sent letters to PARKnSHOP and Wellcome asking them reducing the number of plastic bags being distributed but no reply was received. In 2005, the "no-plastic-bag day" that he had prepared for over 8 months was finally supported by the government. The Environment and Conservation Fund even approved about HK$100,000 to promote the council. The two supermarkets also agreed to meet the council and have a discussion about the reduction in plastic bag usage.
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