We have asked for as much help as possible from the government and the community to help us remove these plastic pellets from the beach.  The government has really stepped up their efforts and is concentrating the bulk of their manpower on the 2 areas that have the highest concentration of loose pellets and are inaccessible to most people.  There are also the usual government cleaning teams that are deployed to maintain the patrolled beaches.  They should have been briefed on cleaning up protocol but if anyone sees otherwise, please can you contact me so we can speak with the relavent department involved.

So here is the ‘How To’ guide for you.

Pellets on the sand are the easiest to remove just after high tide.

The sand will be firm and once the beach dries out a little, the pellets can be easily swept off with a dustpan and brush.

There are still a lot of beaches where the pellets are floating on the surface near the shore or are caught in rock pools.  These can be removed successfully with a pool skimming net or a large fine mesh fish net.  Kevin was on the beach yesterday morning and removed 15kg with this technique.

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Unfortuantely with each day and each tide that passes, the concentrations of pellets on the shoreline decreases, so we need to get out there now and scoop them up.

For the rest of the nurdle trash mix, we just need to get that off the beach.  So with cotton or latex gloves scoop it all up off  the sand and into a garbage bag.  The bag can be deposited in the bin.  (If you can, recycle any plastic bottles or recyclable items)

If you see any full bags of pellets, please remove them to the high tide mark and contact me.  I will arrange for the FEHD to come and collect them.

Every little bit helps!  We have a cleanup organised for 2 days at 2 beaches tomorrow and Saturday in Discovery Bay – 9-12pm (North Plaza and Nim Shue Wan).  This is a good opportunity for people to participate in an organised cleanup – everyone is welcome.  There are lots of people taking on the initiative themselves to go down to their local beach or other beaches on Lantau, Lamma, Cheung Chau & Peng Chau,  to see the state of the beach and do what they can.  We have tried to learn as much as we can about the state of our beaches and direct people to ones that need cleaning but we don’t know about all the beaches.

Please grab your friends and family.  This is a really important time to help out.

Thanks.