A fun day with Captain Moore in HK yesterday. Our first stop was the RTHK radio 3 interview which went really well. Lots of discussion on the garbage patch and how plastics effects us all. The recent plastic pellet spill was also on the agenda.
There was only one place to take Charles for lunch after and that is Mana! cafe. Showing HK how a sustainable cafe should be run with completely biodegradable tableware and food containers that they separate for recycling in-house, serving local food and best of all offering FREE water for refilling water bottles. I’m a big fan of this place and Charles is too now, Bobsy the owner was there and was explaining to us how difficult it is to implement effective waste recycling within the city at the moment. He has a no compromise attitude but it is a big battle here.
After our press conference this afternoon whilst waiting for the ferry we stopped to check out the water quality. We saw everything from sub surface plastic bags to wrappers, pellets, styrofoam and a condom, all sprinkled across the surface of the water. An interesting discussion with one of the journalists about why some plastics float on the surface, which ones are moving just below the surface and the types of plastic that sink. We watched a slick of mainly microplastic trash come floating into the pier and saw a few medium sized fish darting through this little soup of plastic.
Green Drinks last night had a very good turnout. Captain Moore’s indepth presentation was a shock for a lot of people who had little idea of the extent of the effects of plastic on our environment, on the health of the marine ecosystem and of course us. The questions after were just as interesting. Are BPA free bottles safe? The short answer – No! Switch to glass. What can we do about the plastic in the environment? Not a lot at the moment for the micro plastics in the sea but on land we need to reduce our dependence/addiction to plastic – go back to old ways before everything was ‘disposable’. Stop increasing our toxic load from chemicals in plastic and spend money on developing new green technologies to combat the problem.
If you don’t get a chance to hear Captain Moore speak he will be at a book signing of Plastic Ocean at Dymocks IFC today from 1-2pm. Pick up his book and learn more about his journey to the plastic ocean and what he found there.