Closing fridge doors to keep our food in good condition and to save electricity seems to be basic common sense. However, many of the commercial refrigerators in supermarkets or grocery stores are in fact “door-less” and the waste of energy has been overlooked by customers, stores and even the government. To address this problem, a group of students from CityU’s English Department, Agnes Tjin, Dora Wong Hoi-ying, Eva Leung Wan-wah and Julie Tang Tsz-kwan, who work in partnership with the World Wild Fund Hong Kong (WWF) are calling for changes. “Our project ‘Missing the Doors’ addresses the unnecessary consumption of energy caused by door-less fridges in most grocery stores,” explained Julie. To gain public support, the group has taken multiple actions:

1 “Fridge Census”—Who are leaving the doors open? From October to December 2015, the group went to local grocery stores from 26 different brands to conduct Hong Kong’s first-ever study on the energy efficiency of commercial display refrigerators. “We found that over 50% of fridges have no doors!” reflected Agnes. “This wastes much energy and increases food safety risks.”

2 Survey on Citizens’ Awareness—Do you like open fridges? The students also conducted a survey to explore consumers’ attitudes towards commercial display fridges. The data collected would be used to persuade various companies to install fridge doors.

(from left) Eva Leung, Julie Tang, Dora Wong, and Agnes Tjin at the New Year Fair

3 New Year Fair—We want your thumb prints! To draw the public’s attention towards the cause, the group set up a stall at the Cheung Sha Wan Playground Lunar New Year Fair in February 2016. Visitors were invited to show their support by leaving their thumb prints on a signature-board and they could also purchase WWF’s souvenirs at the stall.

Let companies know! With the support from the public, the group is filing petitions to various companies. “By presenting the fingerprint paintings to the chain stores, we hope that all shops will eventually install doors or curtains on their open display refrigerators to fight climate change,” said Dora and Eva.

Find out more information about the campaign on WWF’s website:
http://www.wwf.org.hk/en/?15040/Press-Release-Over-70-Grocery-Retail-Brands-fail-in-WWF-Fridge-Door-TSA-Two-retail-giants-named-big-carbon-emitters-from-doorless-fridges