Hong Kong Students Turn Smelly River Into Innovation Win

A group of high school students spent years studying next to a river people complained smelled terrible. Instead of just accepting it, they built something to fix it.

Students from S.K.H. St. Simon's Lui Ming Choi Secondary School in Hong Kong designed a floating purification system for Tuen Mun River using natural materials like zeolite, beneficial bacteria, and native aquatic plants. The system reduces ammonia and odors without using any electricity.

"Tuen Mun River is right next to our school. Since we were young, people have always said it smells bad," said team representative Wang Ming-fang. "We wanted to let people see a better side of Tuen Mun."

Their project, called River Lord, won top honors at the Seek Our Ways Ideation Programme, a competition organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and supported by Hang Seng Bank. The team also took home the audience choice award after community members voted for their favorite project.

The students didn't get it right the first time. After judges pointed out that their initial plant choice could harm Hong Kong's ecosystem, teammate Cai Yu-yin said they redesigned everything using only native species. They revised their prototype multiple times based on feedback from both residents and competition mentors.

More than 400 secondary and tertiary students submitted around 90 proposals addressing sustainability, cultural preservation, and elderly wellbeing. Many ideas came straight from problems students noticed in their own neighborhoods.

Another winning team from Christian & Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School created biodegradable packaging from rice husks and coffee grounds after seeing mountains of delivery boxes piling up near their homes. A university team developed Cantonese learning games to help mainland students integrate into Hong Kong life after noticing fewer young people speaking the local language.

The Ripple Effect

These weren't just classroom exercises. Students built working prototypes, tested them in real conditions, and adjusted designs based on practical constraints like manufacturing costs and ecosystem impact.

Clarence Leung, Acting Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, noted that participants approached social issues from their own lived experiences while proposing genuinely workable solutions. Hsu Siu-man, Executive Director of HKFYG, told students their inspiration came from curiosity and empathy rather than textbook assignments.

The River Lord team hopes to pilot their floating system along sections near their school. They want people to pay more attention to Tuen Mun River and challenge stereotypes about their district, one natural filter at a time.