With the big heat of summer just around the corner, the mass weekend exodus to the beaches of northern Taiwan is once again fast approaching. Since three or four of Taiwan’s finest are just an hour or so from the capital, a day beside the sea is a popular choice for Taipei residents.
Sadly however, all is not well on northern Taiwan’s beaches. Carelessly dropped trash continues to be a problem, greatly magnified by a huge volume of garbage swept in from overseas on the incoming tide. The good news is that there are many people, both Taiwanese and foreign residents, who are determined to do something about it. Among them are Ryan Hevern and Dustin Craft, the two American guys behind Taiwan Adventure Outings (TAO), an outfit they founded in late 2015.
Hevern says TAO was set up “as a means to get outdoors ourselves, to explore new places in Taiwan and to meet new people who had the same drive to be adventurous.”
Photo courtesy of Ryan Hevern
Hevern says the outfit wanted to give something back to the community and the environment by hosting monthly beach and forest cleanups, as well as connecting travelers with small-scale local tourism initiatives that would expose people to the nation’s beauty, culture and adventures, as well as providing opportunities to contribute towards maintaining these beautiful locations.”
Hevern and Craft organized an initiative on May 20 called Taiwan National Clean Up Day, their biggest and most ambitious cleanup operation to date, involving a total of 10 groups working to clear trash from parts of Taipei City and Yilan County.
The majority of the sites targeted were popular beaches, but four of the groups worked to clear trails in the area around New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪), where fallen sky lanterns continue to mar the landscape despite local efforts to retrieve them.
Photo courtesy of Ryan Hevern
Hevern says that beach clean-ups can be potentially dangerous.
“Unfortunately, we find hypodermic needles every clean up.” Hevern says. “One time in Shalun Beach in Tamsui we found 37 of them in the sand.”
It’s hard and potentially risky work cleaning up Taiwan’s beaches and mountains, but the efforts of the volunteers didn’t go unappreciated last weekend. According to Jan Willem Overmars, one of the volunteers, “Drivers and passengers were encouraging our cleanup: cheering, clapping, [and giving us a] thumbs up. This kept us going.”
Hevern says anyone can play a part in improving the local environment.
“Everyone on a hike or outdoor adventure can take back garbage they find. Beyond this we can also take steps to reduce our consumption of plastic. Bring your own chopsticks and spoons, metal straw and thermos [when you go out to eat]. Resist using a plastic bag when you buy something in a shop.”
To sign up for future TAO cleanups, head to their Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/505284866320444
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