Environment

Hong Kong was rocked this week by the news that its waters were suddenly filled with roughly 150 tons of plastic pellets after Typhoon Vincente, the worst tropical storm to hit the city-state in 13 years, toppled a cargo freighter transporting massive sacks filled with plastic nurdles.

The Oman Observer reports that in late July, over 150 tons of possibly toxic plastic pellets (also known as nurdles) were knocked from a ship into the ocean during the worst typhoon Hong Kong has had in the last 13 years. While the spilled pellets were cause for considerable alarm—and only one third have been cleaned up so far—it's also troubling that the government did not inform local residents about the incident.

A recent investigative piece in The New York Times explores how some nations are dealing with the increasing need to recycle wastewater into drinkable water. While not always a popular topic, and certainly one that makes some people squeamish, cleaning sewage water to make it drinkable is a critical issue for many parts of the world with limited access to fresh water and growing populations. Countries like Namibia have long been at the forefront of recycling water, dating back to 1968.

Green activist group Greener Upon Thames is campaigning at the London 2012 Olympics to encourage visitors to refuse single use plastic bags during the games. According to the organization, the Olympics could generate a vast amount of plastic waste that would travel around the world and create a global problem which would shame Britain as a country. Guardian reporter Rebecca Smithers writes:

Our longtime supporter, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, assumed leadership of his great nation on Tuesday after the sudden death of President John Atta Mills.

A story in the New York Times this week explores how Mexican families use bottled water for just about everything: cooking, cleaning, and even bathing. Residents profiled in the story complain of yellow tap water that seems unfit to use for anything. Many buy every drop of water they use from either multinational companies or local sellers who have invested in filtration systems.

A startling new study from University of British Columbia researcher Stephanie Avery-Gorum found that 93 percent of autopsied seabirds had bellyfuls of plastic. The deceased birds were collected along the coasts of British Columbia, Washington State, and Oregon between October 2009 and April 2010. One single bird in the batch had 454 pieces of plastic in its gut.

Yesterday marked the end of mandatory five cent fee for disposable plastic bags offered by Toronto, Canada merchants, but many shops have chosen to keep the small surcharge on single-use bags until the city-wide bag ban takes effect next year. The entire debate and eventual city council vote to fully ban plastic bags came after Mayor Rob Ford criticized the mandatory fee and raised the debate.

Since China banned the practice of offering free plastic bags in supermarkets and department stores four years ago, it has saved the country an astounding 4.8 million tons of oil, according to a National Development and Reform Commission spokesperson. In the past four years, the ban has also reduced plastic consumption by 800,000 tons and saved more than 24 billion plastic bags.

Who says bag bans aren't effective?

Toronto has just become the first major Canadian city to ban plastic bags. In a bill passed yesterday, the Toronto capital's city council voted to ban bags outright effective January 1, 2013. The issue arose when the council was asked to do away with the five-cent levy on plastic bags. They certainly did just that—and made headlines by outlawing the sacks instead!