Masks, Covid-19 test kits, plastic bottles: more than 9,000kg of litter found on Hong Kong’s hiking trails, seashore last year, green group says
- Plastic bottles, bottle lids and buoys top three types of rubbish commonly found on seashore, while cigarettes, tissue paper and food packaging dot hiking trails, Ecobus says
- Group hosts monthly litter-collection activities as part of efforts to create database documenting garbage scattered around Hong Kong countryside
Masks, Covid-19 test kits, plastic bottles and rubber ducks were among the more than 124,000 pieces of litter an environmental group picked up from Hong Kong’s hiking trails and seashore last year, the total weight of which exceeded 9,000kg.
Other items collected by about 1,500 volunteers of Ecobus included lighters, old electronic devices, toys from more than 30 years ago and an identity document from the 1960s.
The green group hosts monthly litter-collection activities as part of efforts to create a database documenting garbage scattered around the city’s countryside.
Yeungs Yeung Ting, the group’s marine conservation officer, said that plastic bottles, bottle lids and buoys were the top three types of rubbish most commonly found on the seashore.
“We found more than 50,000 plastic bottles. If each of them is 20cm long, they will stretch for over a thousand kilometres when formed into one chain,” she said.
“Due to the ongoing pandemic, many masks and Covid-19 rapid antigen test kits also end up as litter in the countryside. We have collected 870 masks from the seashore and an additional 511 of them on hiking trails.”
Lighters and shoes were also common items found on the seashore, while cigarettes, tissue paper and food packaging were the top three types of litter picked up on hiking trails, Yeung said.
