Hong Kong Plastic Disaster

Hong Kong Plastic Disaster

The Hong Kong disaster involves pollution on the waters in Hong Kong. It was predominantly caused by the storms caused due to the cyclones common in the region. The working environment entails the Hong Kong waters. On the seas, the seven containers which lead to the effects of the Hong Kong disaster affecting the natural state of the environmental conditions of the sea waters alongside its surrounding environs. The plastic pellets that were contained in the container were responsible for all of the mess at the waters. The China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation accepted the claim that they were responsible for the production of the plastic pellets. When the storm had hit the containers, they released the chemical pollutants that lead into the marine debris scattering on the Hong Kong waters thus negatively affecting the ecological and environment states in the region. The Hong Kong plastic disaster involves the pollution that was witnessed in Hong Kong. It is one of the most severe water pollutions ever reported. The disaster brought harm to the waters of Hong Kong as the storm hit seven containers almost which it by the storm wave thus producing plastic pellets from the container. The plastic pellets degraded the surrounding environment. The storm wavers hit the containers, therefore, lead to adverse impacts of the spillage of chemical pellets on the ecological and environmental state in and the local fishery was also affected(Ullah & Zorriehzahra, 2015).

The plastic pellets released by the storm hit containers e chemically known as polypropylene as it is entirely made of propene: a product of petroleum. The plastic pellets are produced in chemical plants when propane is polymerized. The polypropene pellets do not have a direct impact on the state of the waters. However, their effects on water life lead to poisonous impacts. Once fed by the fish, the chemical pellets poison the fish. Local farmers will also lose the confidence they had on fish farming. After the Hong Kong disaster, there was evidence of declining sales of fish. Fish volumes were decreasing thus lead to the loss on the part of the farmers.There have been claims that the plastic pellets accidentally get into the food chainand be consumed by the marine fish in the sea waters. Human beings later consume fish.

Causes of HongKong disaster

The Hong Kong water disaster was caused by pollution of the sea waters by plastic pellets that were released from the containers. The storm waves hit the containers, and six of them had fully packed chemical pellets that were later released into the sea waters and the surrounding environs. The release of the pellets was followed by their distribution in the sea waters thus polluting the environment. Once the chemical pellets get into the waters, they are eaten by fish thus posing a danger to the fish species. Since the plastic pellets are similar to the fish eggs in size, marine species such as fish and sea birds, the aquatic species consume on the plasticpellets instead of fish pellets. This lead to deaths of fish and sea birds as the chemical pellets are pure poison(Chong & Chi, 2019). Local fish farmers do not make huge incomes as they previously did. Since the spill was witnessed, there has been a reduction in the population of fish species thus affecting the fish business in the sea waters.

The toxins existing in the sea water ocean usually are hydrophobic; therefore they react to floating debris such as plastics. When fish species feed on these species, they ingest toxic plastic materials and also ingest the chemicals that are absorbed by plastics.

One of the leading causes of the Hong Kongdisasters on the sea waters is the geographical location of the country to tropical cyclones. Hong Kong is one of the wettest city in the region as it receives enormous amounts of rainfall annually.The probability of being hit by a storm is high due to the city’s geographical location. Also, the increased loss of marine species is due to the lack of adequate clean-up operations in the sea.The failure to remove the plastic pellets will thus lead to absorption of the poison by marine fish and sea birds causing a loss in biodiversity( Lee, 2015).

The manufacturing of chemical pellets is one of the critical causes of the disaster. The plastics usually existing as beads, are used in the production of kinds of toothpaste and other products.Once these pellets get into the water, they are fed on fish due to their shape and size.This leads to toxicity in the sea life as fish and sea birds will be poisoned thus loss of life

 

 

References

Chong, A. M., & Chi, I. (Eds.). (2019). Social Work and Sustainability in Asia: Facing the Challenges of Global Environmental Changes. Routledge.

Lee, F. L. (2015). Internet, citizen self-mobilization, and social movement organizations in environmental collective action campaigns: Two Hong Kong cases. Environmental Politics24(2), 308-325.

Ullah, S., & Zorriehzahra, M. J. (2015). Ecotoxicology: a review of pesticides induced toxicity in fish. Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci3(1), 40-57.

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