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Hong Kong NGOs Initiate Plastic Pellet Patrol

2012-08-07

(Hong Kong - 7 August 2012) Following the recent spillage of plastic pellets in Hong Kong waters, a meeting was held yesterday between HKSAR government officials and various non-governmental organizations including DB Green, Sea Shepherd, Ocean Park, Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, WWF-Hong Kong and Ecovision Asia was held yesterday to assess the current status of the cleanup effort and to coordinate cleanup efforts.
During the meeting, Hong Kong was divided into different sectors for action, with attending NGOs each being assigned areas of responsibility. The participating NGOs set up a joint operation named Hong Kong Plastic Pellet Patrol to clear pellets scattered along the coastline of Hong Kong, in order to limit any further damage to the environment. The areas assigned for cleanup action and responsible NGOs are listed as follows:

Group  Cleanup area   Website
DB Green and Plastic Free Seas  Lantau East  www.plasticfreeseas.org
www.dbgreen.org 
Ocean Park and Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Cheung Chau, Lamma Island www.oceanpark.com.hk   
WWF-Hong Kong  Po Toi, Waglan Island, Beaufort Island, Sung Kong  www.wwf.org.hk   
Ecovision Asia  Hong Kong Island South www.HKcoastalcleanup.org   
Lamma Corner &
Green Power
Tai Long Wan  www.facebook.com/lamma.lammacorner 

Volunteers who are interested in helping out may refer to the relevant websites for further details and guidelines of the clean-up operations.

Since considerable quantities of plastic pellets are still distributed in Hong Kong waters and could get washed up the coastlines later, this will require a lot of long term commitment. The public is encouraged to continue to support this cleaning exercise to help protect Hong Kong’s environment.

Tracey Read, Beach Cleanup Leader of DB Green, said, “The NGOs are happy to work with the government to clear the plastic pellets. With the government’s support, we are able to understand the current situation of the spillage which enables us to effectively mobilize our volunteers within a short time span. We hope we could have the situation under control quickly with the help of government authorities.”
 

Current locations of the 5 located containers with spilled plastic pellets; 1 container is still missing (Map provided courtesy of Sea Shepherd and Hong Kong Coast Watch
Current locations of the 5 located containers with spilled plastic pellets; 1 container is still missing (Map provided courtesy of Sea Shepherd and Hong Kong Coast Watch