In the 1960s, welfare organisations collaborated with the government to set up several resettlement estates for Cheung Chau residents. One such estate is the Cheung Chau Lutheran Village, which housed folks relocating from the nearby neighbourhoods of Tai Choi Yeun and Pak She. In their new, uniform living spaces, villagers could finally enjoy reliable tap water and electricity; however, due to land constraints, their houses lay adjacent to farmland and private toilets were unavailable. Residents developed a way of life different from life in the city or even in other neighbourhoods of Cheung Chau: a life in harmony with nature, built upon a deep understanding of human byproducts and the lay of the  land.

Designer Cheng Wing Chun and community facilitator Raven Ching (CCIL) have been examining the correlation between living space and living quality, tracing the invisible yet far-reaching journey of waste on Cheung Chau. They’ve teamed up with the villagers to build a compost bin and a composting toilet—a project they cheekily call a ‘welfare centre’ for all the ‘little things’ relocated from their bodies to the soil. The project has opened up conversations about the village’s history and its future, while giving back a recycling system that can process waste locally and generate organic substances.