Former NCKU Student’s Call Inspires Large-Scale Activity to Clean the Local Coastal Environment
Tainan, Taiwan, August 21, 2014
Last week, around 80 people from Tainan and all over the world came together to hold a clean-up operation in Anping Yuguang Island Moon Bay (安平區漁光島月亮灣).
The activity was initiated by Naoya Inada, a recent graduate of the Institute of International Management at National Cheng Kung University, who wanted to show his appreciation to Tainan before returning to Japan.
“Tainan has given me so many great memories for the past three years. I was thinking of a way to return Tainan’s kindness before I go, to contribute to the city, and I thought of Anping beach and how dirty it has become. Maybe I can do something about that,” Inada said.
What started as a one-person activity, with a few friends helping, grew into a large-scale event over the course of the week as word spread about his initiative.
It culminated into an event that involved more than 80 people on the weekend of August 16-17, 2014.
The organizers, who refer to themselves as 安平淨灘隊 Anping Beach Cleanup Team, shared a common vision to clean up the local area and improve the coastal environment.
Garbage can be found on every part of the beach, but the scope of the challenge was made more difficult by the fact that much of the garbage is hidden among natural plant material and other detritus that regularly washes up from the sea.
The group discovered glass bottles (玻璃瓶), single-used cups (飲料杯), plastic fragments, drink cartons, expanded polystyrene foam blocks, as well as hundreds of polystyrene fragments (保麗龍碎片).
To make matters worse, potentially dangerous items were found hidden among the detritus on the beach, including lighters, syringes (both used and unused), and broken glass fragments.
The group hopes that holding this kind of event will help to raise public awareness of issues surrounding the disposal of consumer waste and industrial waste.
Jonathan Knowles, a graduate of the University of Cambridge who is currently staying in Tainan after completing two years at NCKU's Chinese Language Center, voiced his concern about the coastal condition in Taiwan:
“One of the challenges facing the local coastal environment appears to be the proliferation of polystyrene fragments. Every year, large numbers of expanded polystyrene pieces wash up on the shorelines around Tainan. Some of these blocks are collected and recycled. However, due to the effects of weathering and tides, the blocks can break up into tiny fragments, and such fragments often end up intermingled among the sand dunes along the coast, along with other forms of detritus. Due to the slow rate at which polystyrene degrades, it could take many decades for this waste to disappear, assuming there is no human intervention.
“Research suggests that polystyrene fragments of all sizes pose a grave threat to marine and coastal life. For example, we know that birds occasionally eat such fragments, and this can lead to severe injury or death. But the full extent of the threat posed by such pollution is unknown. This should give us real cause for concern, as the marine environment affects all of us.
“The beach in Anping is a place where people meet and come together, and it holds a special place in many people’s hearts. By holding this event in Anping, we hope to raise awareness of issues that affect us all.”
The event has received positive responses from the local and international community and surpassed the organizers’ initial expectations.
Since there still remains a significant amount of garbage and other detritus on the beach, the group plans to hold another clean-up event this coming weekend on August 23-24, 2014.
More information about the group can be found on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/anping.beach.cleanup.team/.
Enditem/Ottavia Huang
Last week, around 80 people from Tainan and all over the world came together to hold a clean-up operation in Anping Yuguang Island Moon Bay (安平區漁光島月亮灣).
The activity was initiated by Naoya Inada, a recent graduate of the Institute of International Management at National Cheng Kung University, who wanted to show his appreciation to Tainan before returning to Japan.
“Tainan has given me so many great memories for the past three years. I was thinking of a way to return Tainan’s kindness before I go, to contribute to the city, and I thought of Anping beach and how dirty it has become. Maybe I can do something about that,” Inada said.
What started as a one-person activity, with a few friends helping, grew into a large-scale event over the course of the week as word spread about his initiative.
It culminated into an event that involved more than 80 people on the weekend of August 16-17, 2014.
The organizers, who refer to themselves as 安平淨灘隊 Anping Beach Cleanup Team, shared a common vision to clean up the local area and improve the coastal environment.
Garbage can be found on every part of the beach, but the scope of the challenge was made more difficult by the fact that much of the garbage is hidden among natural plant material and other detritus that regularly washes up from the sea.
The group discovered glass bottles (玻璃瓶), single-used cups (飲料杯), plastic fragments, drink cartons, expanded polystyrene foam blocks, as well as hundreds of polystyrene fragments (保麗龍碎片).
To make matters worse, potentially dangerous items were found hidden among the detritus on the beach, including lighters, syringes (both used and unused), and broken glass fragments.
The group hopes that holding this kind of event will help to raise public awareness of issues surrounding the disposal of consumer waste and industrial waste.
Jonathan Knowles, a graduate of the University of Cambridge who is currently staying in Tainan after completing two years at NCKU's Chinese Language Center, voiced his concern about the coastal condition in Taiwan:
“One of the challenges facing the local coastal environment appears to be the proliferation of polystyrene fragments. Every year, large numbers of expanded polystyrene pieces wash up on the shorelines around Tainan. Some of these blocks are collected and recycled. However, due to the effects of weathering and tides, the blocks can break up into tiny fragments, and such fragments often end up intermingled among the sand dunes along the coast, along with other forms of detritus. Due to the slow rate at which polystyrene degrades, it could take many decades for this waste to disappear, assuming there is no human intervention.
“Research suggests that polystyrene fragments of all sizes pose a grave threat to marine and coastal life. For example, we know that birds occasionally eat such fragments, and this can lead to severe injury or death. But the full extent of the threat posed by such pollution is unknown. This should give us real cause for concern, as the marine environment affects all of us.
“The beach in Anping is a place where people meet and come together, and it holds a special place in many people’s hearts. By holding this event in Anping, we hope to raise awareness of issues that affect us all.”
The event has received positive responses from the local and international community and surpassed the organizers’ initial expectations.
Since there still remains a significant amount of garbage and other detritus on the beach, the group plans to hold another clean-up event this coming weekend on August 23-24, 2014.
More information about the group can be found on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/anping.beach.cleanup.team/.
Enditem/Ottavia Huang
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