More than 2,000 volunteers hit the beaches on an outlying island of Hong Kong for a mass cleanup Sunday as environmental campaigners warned plastic is kill
HONG KONG – More than 2,000 volunteers hit the beaches on an outlying island of Hong Kong for a mass cleanup Sunday as environmental campaigners warned plastic is killing sea turtles and other wildlife.
There has been increasing concern over the amount of garbage in Hong Kong waters which washes up on its numerous beaches. Authorities and environmentalists have pointed the finger at southern mainland China as the source.
Last year, a massive palm oil spillage from a ship collision in mainland Chinese waters clogged Hong Kong’s beaches.
But there is evidence that Hong Kong is also to blame. In 2016, local media reported that syringes and medical waste washed ashore from clinics in the city.
Sunday’s clean-up took place on Shek Pai Wan, near Sham Wan — known as “Turtle Cove”— on Lamma Island.
Sham Wan is one of the few regular sea turtle nesting grounds in southern China and is closed to visitors from June to the end of October, but campaigners said no nests have been recorded in the area in the past six years.
“Turtles aren’t making it to the beach to lay eggs,” said Aquameridian campaigner Sharon Kwok, adding that turtles are dying, ending up tangled in nets, hit by high-speed boats and ships, and most often, because of trash ingestion.
