Category: Global Warning

Tags: NTD, NTDTV, New, Tang, Dynasty, Chinese, Television, China, China, News, China, Focus, snow, fraction, hundreds, millions, plastic, pellets, washed, hong, kong, nu

The worst plastic spill in history: This isn't snow. It's actually a small fraction of hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets that have washed up on the shores of Hong Kong. They're called nurdles, or mermaid tears. And if mermaids were real, they'd be crying. The pellets are potentially toxic, and environmentalists are saying the cleanup could take months. The damage could last years. A container carrying the pellets was knocked off a vessel during the worst typhoon to hit Hong Kong in 13 years. [Gary Stokes, Sea Shepherd Conservation Scoeity Rep.]: "So as we can see this is the container behind us and it's really starting to break up, it's scattered the entire contents on the bottom beneath us." Now the shores are drenched in almost 150 tons of mermaid tears. Sinopec, the China Petroleum and Chemical Corp made the pellets. According to the company, the pellets are not toxic or dangerous on their own. However, over time, they can absorb toxins and pollutants that could poison the food chain if eaten. [Gary Stokes, Sea Shepherd Conservation Scoeity Rep.]: "We spoke with leading scientist, Captain Charles Moore, he commented on this and said it was actually the worst plastics spill he's ever seen documented. So it's something that's completely unprecedented. People don't have action plans on how to clear it all up and that's what we're just working with the government to try and do." It's been more than a week since the spill, and the Hong Kong marine and environmental protection departments have been working to clean up the mess. On Sunday, the Environmental Protection Department said that water quality has not been affected. Published on Aug 6, 2012 by NTDTV

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