Sustainability measures celebrated in Asia’s leading Dragon Boat competition
[Sponsored Article] Yes, it's that time of the year: exciting Dragon Boat races, delicious rice dumplings— celebrating life under the sizzling summer sun. Talking of Dragon Boat competition, nothing tops the festive atmosphere of the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships supported by Sun Life Hong Kong.
[Sponsored Article]
Yes, it's that time of the year: exciting Dragon Boat races, delicious rice dumplings— celebrating life under the sizzling summer sun. Talking of Dragon Boat competition, nothing tops the festive atmosphere of the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships supported by Sun Life Hong Kong.
Indeed, Sun Life has been partnering with the Stanley Residents Association for the event since 2008. And since then, the competition has become so intense that these races have come to be one of the biggest Dragon Boat sporting events in Asia.
Last year’s Championships attracted 288 local and overseas teams, 6,000 paddlers and over 200,000 spectators. And this year’s event— scheduled June 18 at Stanley Main Beach, is set to welcome more than 200 well-trained Dragon Boat teams.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, Sun Life Hong Kong provides insurance, plus wealth and asset management solutions to individuals and corporates. For more than 125 years, Sun Life has been growing together with Hong Kong. Today the company serves approximately 1.1 million clients, playing an active role in helping them to achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives—both physically and mentally.
Belinda Au, General Manager, Distribution and Marketing at Sun Life Hong Kong Limited, says, “To encourage a healthy and active lifestyle, Sun Life has been supporting various sports events in the community, and always enters teams in these activities, including the Dragon Boat Championships and the Sun Life Resolution Run initiated last year.”
In addition, Sun Life also takes opportunities to support major public activities to bring about positive influence to the community. This year's Sun Life Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships joins hands with BottLess, a social enterprise, and The Green Earth, a charitable organization, to host and sponsor free drinking water refill stations, as well as collecting plastic bottles, aluminium cans and glass for recycle. It's a pledge to create a sustainable environment.
This year visitors heading to Stanley to take in the exciting Dragon Boat action are encouraged to bring water bottles so they can just refill their own bottle with drinking water. Considering that there will probably be many thousands of visitors, this will mean saving a great deal of plastic waste. By setting up free drinking water refill stations, Sun Life hopes to help raise the public’s sustainability awareness. Meanwhile, all the collected plastic bottles and aluminium cans on site will be delivered to dedicated facilities for recycling.
Belinda adds, “Using less plastic bottles and recycling disposable containers perfectly meet the sustainability pledge of Sun Life.”
Consider a few examples: Sun Life’s own office features a stunning open space design on some of the floors to make full use of natural sunlight. And the interior uses a flexible design to prepare for future renovation; while its LED lighting uses timers to save energy. And there are even separate facilities for recyclable paper, plastic bottles, aluminium cans and other wastes—at source.
The Dragon Boat festival is near, and the community will surely enjoy another great day under the summer sun. But it is also sincerely hoped that Sun Life’s sustainability pledge will be registered in the hearts and memories of all the race spectators like the thrilling echoes of the Dragon Boat drums!
