Bupa extends partnership with BottLess at HONG KONG STREETATHON
Hong Kong，06 Jan 2020
Bupa Hong Kong extends partnership with BottLess
at HONG KONG STREETATHON
to promote an eco-friendly sports event with sustainable measures
Bupa Hong Kong, a leading health insurance specialist, extends its partnership with BottLess — a social enterprise that drives environmental sustainability — by launching a refreshment station named “Bupa Station” at the upcoming HONG KONG STREETATHON on Sunday, 12 January 2020. The station promotes a plastic-reduced water refill experience for runners, following the success of the “Live Healthy Live Green” campaign launched by Bupa and BottLess last year through Bupa’s employee engagement programme and in Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) events, in hopes to further reduce the negative environmental impact of local sports events.
Since last year, Bupa and BottLess have launched a partnership to educate the public on the use of reusable alternatives in daily life. The upcoming Bupa Station at HONG KONG STREETATHON will provide around 14,000 reusable water cups to replace single-use paper cups and allow participants to enjoy an eco-friendly marathon. The reusable cups were first introduced to the public at the HKTDC Food Expo and a series of HKTDC trade shows in 2019 with positive feedback. The Bupa Station at HONG KONG STREETATHON will continue to demonstrate new possibilities for major sports events to implement green measures and reduce their overall negative environmental impact.
Bupa Hong Kong and BottLess’ co-sponsoring the event builds upon the success of their recent “Live Healthy Live Green” partnership to encourage positive behaviour changes. During the course of the campaign which started last July, Bupa and BottLess partnered with restaurants in the Taikoo and Quarry Bay area, offering special discounts to Bupa employees who brought reusable food containers to replace single-use plastics. Bupa and BottLess joined hands with HKTDC to provide reusable utensils to the public at the HKTDC Food Expo. With these reusable alternatives, the public were able to enjoy the food and exhibitors to promote their businesses whilst reducing the event’s plastic waste, hence creating a win-win situation for the environment, economy and society.
Caring for the community lies at the heart of Bupa’s values. This year, HONG KONG STREETATHON also serves as an opportunity for Bupa to give back to the community through providing its health expertise. Bupa’s healthcare provision arm, Quality HealthCare, will be on-site to care for the participants’ wellbeing needs, providing physiotherapy services at the designated refreshment point to give our runners our full healthcare support.
“The partnership with BottLess has been very successful in encouraging our people and the wider society to adopt smarter sustainable choices. Supporting HONG KONG STREETATHON this year is another opportunity where we can educate sports lovers on the harm of single-use plastics to the environment,” said Andrew Merrilees, General Manager, Bupa Hong Kong. “We are also looking forward to offering our healthcare expertise to benefit the runners. Supporting the health needs of the society, while raising awareness of the health of the planet, is part of Bupa’s purpose of helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives.”
“We aspire to make Hong Kong a plastic-free and healthy city in ten years. The BottLess team continues to use all-rounded solutions to reduce the use of disposable plastics and improve Hong Kong’s disposable plastic waste. Following the reusable utensils sharing scheme at the HKTDC’s trade exhibitions, BottLess and Bupa once again partner to provide reusable water cups at the water stations in HONG KONG STREETATHON. It is an important call for the sports and event industry to go green, and sets an example for other major events in Hong Kong to take action. Reducing waste at the source is just a step away. We hope all runners can support the initiative,” said Francis Ngai, Founder of BottLess.
Andes Leung, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RunOurCity, said: “HONG KONG STREETATHON supports RunOurCity Foundation to promote its Youth.ROC and Youth.ONE programs which aim to transform young people’s lives through running and lead them run towards a positive life. With Bupa and BottLess’ reusable cups and water station support in this year, we find it even more meaningful to incorporate the promotion of environmental protection and educate our young people to go green in running events.”
Moving forward, Bupa and BottLess will work even more closely, exploring partnerships with various Hong Kong-based fairs and events, charity runs and walkathons by sponsoring reusable containers and cups. Bupa and BottLess are united in their vision of encouraging people to use sustainable alternatives and minimise plastic waste, helping them to live healthy and live green.
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BottLess
BottLess is a social start-up initiated by SVhk in 2015. With innovative and pioneering strategies, BottLess opens the path for corporates to embrace sustainability, which fosters micro-behavioral change in the public and creating zero-waste possibilities for the next generation.
BottLess has a wealth of experience in providing plastics-free strategies, namely water solutions for mega-events such as Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships, the sharing cup scheme for Hong Kong Sevens, and reusable cup solutions for the Hong Kong Streetathon. Others include providing green packaging solutions to restaurants and food retails.
Bottless Solutions
LEAD - Offer bespoke operation and marketing advice and curation to create citywide sustainability campaigns
LIFE - One-stop station offering a diversified range of high-quality, sustainable products to corporates, restaurants and the public – including 100% biodegradable utensils and packaging
LOOP - Ultimate Rent & Reuse system for catering necessities aiming to change the consumer’s habit of using disposable plastic products
FLOW - Water refilling technology for corporates to engage consumers in reducing plastic bottle consumption, and embracing the habit of water refilling
ZERO - Curate holistic zero-waste events that motivate public participation with pioneering plastic-free experiences, from water refill machine, reusable cup and food container services to professional back-end dish-washing support
HERO - Build an alliance of cross-sector partners who advocate for plastic-free solutions to mobilize a city-wide sustainability movement
Bupa – A global healthcare specialist
Bupa began in the UK in 1947. We fund healthcare around the world and run clinics, hospitals, dental centres, care homes, and more. With no shareholders, we reinvest our profits to provide more and better healthcare for customers.
Bupa is UK’s largest health insurer.* In Hong Kong, we are known as the health insurance specialist. We have gained the trust of more than 400,000 individuals, and 3,200 companies including major corporations in public utility and telecom industry. We have provided quality health insurance for Hong Kong’s civil servants for more than 20 years.
Bupa also provides primary care services through Quality HealthCare Medical Services (QHMS), one of Hong Kong’s largest private clinic networks.
* Source: LaingBuisson Health Cover UK Market Report 15th Edition, published 16 October 2018, in terms of market share by premium income among private medical insurance providers
Media Enquiry:
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BottLess Limited
Christina Tsao Tel: +852 6106 3943 Email: christina.tsao@sv-hk.org
Steven Tsoi Tel: +852 9133 3337 Email: steven.tsoi@sv-hk.org
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Bupa (Asia) Limited Corporate Affairs Annie Jin Tel.: +852 2517 5724 Email: annie.jin@bupa.com.hk
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