Hong Kong and Taiwan's green groups called mainland China as well as drink makers to reduce plastic waste as the latest survey shows two-thirds of the collected bottles during beach clean-ups likely came from across the border.
The preliminary survey by the local environmental group The Green Earth in collaboration with eight NGOs in Hong Kong and three in Taiwan found that about 66 percent of dumped plastic bottles gathered on the coasts of Hong Kong and Taiwan were named in simplified Chinese characters.
China is using a simplified script, while Hong Kong and Taiwan use traditional Chinese characters.
Overall, there are 5,200 bottles collected in 16 coastal clean-ups in Hong Kong and Taiwan. As per The Green Earth, there are more than 4,400 bottles with recognizable brands.
"The bottles labeled in simplified Chinese may be available in a few stores in Hong Kong or brought by tourists from China, but the number is quite small," said Hahn Chu Hon-keung, the director of environmental advocacy at The Green Earth.
As per the South China Morning Post, the 10 coastal clean-ups were conducted in Hong Kong, at Gin Drinkers Bay, Sha Tau Kok, Shui Hau Wan in Lantau, Lamma Island, Sai Kung, Sam Mun Tsai in Tai Po and Tung Chung River. There are 1,776 dumped plastic bottles having recognizable brands, wherein 38 percent had simplified characters and 55 percent traditional Chinese.
Chu said that the figures also showed that local firms should also take responsibility. About 86 percent of bottles were in simplified Chinese in the monitoring sites in Taiwan - mostly in Penghu. Chu also noted that the mainland needs to make an aggressive action to eliminated waste such as setting up producer responsibility schemes for product containers.
"Apart from being a strong global power, China should also take responsibility [to reduce plastic waste]," Chu said.
The grouped questioned the 2015 result from the report by the Environmental Protection Department entitled Investigation on the Sources and Fates of Marine Refuse in Hong Kong. The result showed that only 5 percent of marine refuse was from the mainland. The group said that the methodology needs to be reviewed again.
"From what we found out this time, the figures tell another story," Chu said.
The groups also urged the drinks manufacturers to take action by reducing the production of plastic containers, using the same material for bottles for efficient recycling. On September 15, there will be another brand investigation on international coastal clean-ups.
As for the local brand, Chu said they needed to gather additional data before publishing detailed results. The group plans to contact the government and manufacturers later.
