Microplastics threaten HK's ecosystem: Greenpeace
A green group on Monday called on the government and corporations to reduce plastic use at source in order to protect the environment, human and animal welfare, after a study found that the pollution from the continuous production of single-use plastics has expanded from the city to the countryside. A study, conducted by Greenpeace and research teams from universities in Hong Kong and Taipei, found that microplastics are showing up in wild animals in Hong Kong's countryside.  Greenpeace campaigner Leanne Tam said plastic pollution could increase the risk of contaminating the food chain.  "When we talk about animals, their poop actually is like a very important thing in the environment, because they are providing nutrients for the soil and plants. So we think that if there are microplastics, [there's] a very high potential it goes down to the soil to affect the microorganisms in the soil and also the plants may intake it, become part of their body," she said.  "So it would enter the food chain and also our ecosystem. When we accumulate all that, going higher up and higher up, finally maybe humans will intake those microplastics and that might threaten our health." Tam added that cutting down on the production of plastic products would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and that people could not solely rely on recycling to solve the problem. "To cut down the production, [so we] don't produce unnecessary items, like wraps or plastic bags, I think the government should speed up the Producer Responsibility Scheme for [items] like plastic bottles. They have mentioned [this for] years, but they didn't have a timetable yet," she said.  "So for the responsibility scheme, we hope that not only [using] recycling, they should also regulate the production of the business sector. They should reduce the single use item production and also provide some reusable choice to the customers, just like the refill station or reusable cup or container or bottle, they can return it after use so that we can change our habits, phase out our single use [plastics] and protect our environment."