Bupa extends partnership with BottLess at HONG KONG STREETATHON

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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Bupa Hong Kong extends partnership with BottLess at HONG KONG STREETATHON to promote an eco-friendly sports event with sustainable measures

Bupa Hong Kong and BottLess will launch a refreshment station, “Bupa Station”, at the HONG KONG STREETATHON to provide reusable water cups to the runners