Polystyrene products are extremely dangerous to wildlife. Carelessly discarded boxes made of polystyrene cause choking and starvation among a wide array of sea turtles, fish, and sea birds.
So why are Hong Kong's coasts are littered with used polystyrene boxes? A lack of recycling facilities at Hong Kong's fishing port means that these foam boxes get broken up and end up floating in the ocean where they create havoc with native species. Polystyrene isn't just deadly to marine life, it also poisons people. People who eat fish that have ingested polystyrene.
Please join me in asking Mr. Wong Kam-sing, Secretary of the Environment in Hong Kong, to establish more recycling facilities and collection points near the city's fishing port.
Dear Mr. Wong Kam-sing:
I was extremely distressed to learn about the polystyrene boxes that are breaking up and littering your ocean off the fishing port. These boxes are extremely hazardous to wildlife and, ultimately, to people. No one can digest polystyrene. That means that, when birds and fish mistake it for food, they end up starving or choking to death. When people eat fish that have been thus contaminated, they, too, are poisoned. Please establish more recycling facilities and collection points near the city's fishing port.
