After its most successful run since it was founded in 2000, the Hong Kong edition of the International Coastal Cleanup Challenge has come to a close.
What began as junk trip to clean up a rubbish-strewn beach on Lamma Island has grown to include thousands of volunteers and a month-long programme of activities. It is now part of an international network of coastal cleanups organised by Ocean Conservancy, a non-profit group.
'In Hong Kong, the event is really quite sophisticated compared to some other places,' said Lisa Christensen, founding director of Ecovision, an environmental consulting firm that organises the local cleanup. 'I think it's because people really care about what's going on. Hong Kong has got hundreds of kilometres of stunning coastline and beaches. Everyone loves the beach, but we've got to take care of it.'
Rubbish threatens the economic and ecological health of the world's oceans by killing wildlife and poisoning marine habitats. Every year, an estimated 6.4 billion kilograms of trash are dumped in the sea, while millions of tonnes of plastic are floating around. There is so much plastic, in fact, that an enormous patch of discarded bottles, wrappers and other debris, covering an area 1,300 times the size of Hong Kong, is swirling around the Pacific Ocean.
More than 100,000 mammals and two million sea birds die each year from eating or becoming caught in marine debris. When fish or birds consume chemicals or plastic from ocean waste, the toxins are often passed on to humans at the dinner table. Fish have been found to contain unsafe levels of mercury, PCBs and dioxins, all of which build up over time in the human body, causing serious health complications.
This year 121 teams and more than 6,500 people participated in the Hong Kong cleanup. They cleared nearly 30,000 kilograms of waste from dozens of beaches. Most teams were corporate, with particularly strong showings from property developer Sino Group, whose team had 275 volunteers, and Nomura, a financial services company, which provided 215 volunteers. Outdoor education provider Outward Bound showed up with 250 participants, making it the largest non-corporate team. Smaller teams represented the Jewish Community Centre, Friends of Sai Kung and a plethora of other organisations.