Hong Kong’s plastic waste epidemic, and why it’s bad news for all of us
Up to 2,000 tonnes of plastic is discarded in the city every day, and without adequate means to process it a lot ends up in the sea, from where it makes its way into the human food chain. A charity is helping Hong Kong businesses adopt better practices
Plastic has been more than just a drop in the ocean to the Hong Kong economy. The city’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, built his fortune on plastic flowers in the 1950s and ’60s. At the same time, a generation of children learned the city’s name from plastic toys stamped “Made in Hong Kong”.
Unfortunately, almost all the plastic disposed of since it was invented is underground or, worse, in watercourses that feed into massive “rubbish patch” gyres swirling around in our oceans. There, it soaks up other toxins and is eaten by small creatures in a food chain that ends in humans.
Just last month, a study of anchovies caught in Tokyo Bay found that 80 per cent had microplastic particles in their guts. Researchers believe these minute particles originate from plastic waste that has been broken up by wave action and ultraviolet rays, as well as so-called microbeads of plastic used as abrasives in facial scrubs and toothpaste.
More worryingly, US scientists have found that in shellfish such as mussels, microplastics can pass from the gut into the blood and tissue.
Eco-toxicologists point out that because of their structure, plastics also act as a kind of sponge for other chemicals in the sea – pesticides and industrial compounds – concentrating their toxicity.