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強颱過後 上百噸塑膠球散布香港海灘

2012年08月13日
摘譯自2012年8月9日ENS中國,香港報導;李子昂編譯;蔡麗伶審校

貨船永信捷一號在強颱韋森特襲擊下,在香港南方海域散落了大量小塑膠球。( Bodolinsky 攝, ShipSpotting 提供)強颱韋森特上個月肆虐香港,一艘裝載小塑膠球貨船的貨櫃破損,導致塑膠球從該船散至海上,並飄流至至少10處香港海灘。

7月23至24日夜間,近十年最強颱風襲擊香港,位於香港南方海域的貨船永信捷一號有7個40呎的貨櫃落入海中。

香港環境部門表示,其中6個貨櫃裝滿了製造塑膠製品用小塑膠原料球的膠袋。香港海事處已找到五個貨櫃,並積極打撈,目前已撈起約50噸的膠球與膠袋。

香港環境局局長黃錦星表示,連同環境局從海上打撈的數量,加上約21噸沖至海岸上之膠球,目前已收集到約半數散落的膠球。

一開始,環境局官員表示,由於膠球混合了沙子或垃圾,要將膠球回收可能會遭遇一些困難。但現在政府卻表示,將會回收這些膠球,而非將其倒入掩埋場中。

黃錦星局長表示,自接到膠球散落的消息後,四個政府單位立即採取了陸、海、空三方作業。至今日為止,他們已追踪了小膠球的位置、評估了食品安全和海洋生態風險,並著手進行清理和打撈工作。

2012年8月5日,香港環境局局長黃錦星及蘇炳文博士與正在三白灣清理膠球的志工交談。

黃錦星表示,政府官員與有關單位,包括環保團體,討論了如何處理這種情況。官員將僱用更多人,以加快清潔工作,並與環保團體和當地民眾保持密切聯絡。

數百名志工用掃把和畚箕,花了一整個週末,辛苦整理市中心南方南ㄚ島兩處滿布膠球的海灘。志工們亦試圖清理大嶼山愉景灣的三白灣海灘。

黃錦星局長表示,小塑膠球沒有毒性,因此水質沒有受到影響。

港府食物安全中心在經過評估後表示,膠球可能隨時間吸入持久性有機污染物(persistent organic pollutants, POPs),但由於當地魚類只占該地區居民日常飲食中的一小部分,因此對食物安全造成的威脅不大。

儘管如此,該單位仍呼籲民眾不要食用任何在海灘上發現的死魚,以及任何外觀、氣味或味道異常的魚隻。

香港食物及衛生局會加強監測當地水域中捕獲的魚隻,以及膠球散布範圍附近的養殖魚隻。

香港政府6日表示,清理工作可能需要幾個月的時間。海事處將繼續直升機搜索,加強海岸線巡邏,並從其他區借調資源來處理本事件。

Typhoon Dumps Tons of Plastic Pellets on Hong Kong Beaches
HONG KONG, China, August 8, 2012 (ENS)

Containers full of plastic pellets swept from a ship during Typhoon Vicente last month have broken open, scattering the pellets at sea and on at least 10 Hong Kong beaches.

Overnight on July 23-24, in the worst storm to strike Hong Kong in more than a decade, the cargo ship Yong Xin Jie 1 lost seven 40-foot-long containers in the waters south of Hong Kong.

Six of the containers contained sacks of small plastic pellets used in the manufacture of other plastic products, about 150 tonnes in total, according to Hong Kong environmental authorities.

Five of the containers full of plastic pellets were located by the Hong Kong Marine Department, which salvaged the containers and the plastic pellets at sea. About 50 tonnes of pellets in sacks were collected from the water.

So far, about 21 tonnes of the plastic pellets that washed ashore have been cleared. Together with those collected by the Marine Department, about half of the spilled pellets have been collected, said Hong Kong Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing.

The government now says it will send the tonnes of spilled pellets to a recycler instead of dumping them in landfills where an undisclosed amount of those collected to date have ended up. Environment officials at first said it would be tough to recycle the pellets because they were mixed with sand or trash.

Wong said that upon receiving reports of the plastics spill, four government departments took immediate action on air, sea and land. To date, they have tracked the locations of the pellets, assessed the risk to food safety and marine ecology, and conducted clean up and salvage work.

Hong Kong Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing (second right) and Dr. So Ping-man talk to cleanup volunteers at Sam Pak Wan beach, August 5, 2012.

Wong said government officials have discussed with relevant parties, including green groups, how to deal with the situation. He said officials now will hire more people to speed the clean-up operation and keep close contact with green groups and the local community.

Painstakingly, using brushes and dustpans, hundreds of volunteers worked all weekend on residential Lamma Island, south of the city center, where two beaches are covered with the pellets. Volunteers are also trying to clean Sam Pak Wan beach in Discovery Bay on Lantau Island.

The plastic pellets are not toxic, so water quality has not been affected, said Wong.

After its risk assessment, the Centre for Food Safety said that while persistent organic pollutants can be adsorbed by the plastic pellets over time, “the increased food safety risk is unlikely to be significant as wild fish locally caught only constitutes a very small part of our diet.”

Still, the agency advised the public not to eat any dead fish found on the beach or fish with any abnormal appearance, smell or taste.

The Food and Health Bureau will step up their safety monitoring for fish caught in local waters, as well as farmed fish raised in the vicinity of the plastic spill.

The government said Monday that the cleanup could take months. The Marine Department will continue helicopter searches, step up patrols along the coastline and arrange reinforcement from other districts to tackle the incident.

※ 全文及圖片詳見 ens-newswire.com/?p=47657

作者

蔡麗伶(LiLing Barricman)

In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.