Wed, Apr 17, 2019 page4

• Volunteers clean Hsinchu beach

  SUSTAINED EFFORT: Hsinchu officials have been categorizing data from the annual cleanup to educate groups about waste sources and ways to mitigate the problem

  • By Tsai Chang-sheng and Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  About 2,000 volunteers participated in a beach cleanup on Sunday at the Nanliao Seashell Park (南寮貝殼公園) in Hsinchu’s North District (北區).

  Thirty-six groups, including the Buddha’s Light International Association, as well as students and teachers from other cities and counties took part in the cleanup, which was hosted by the Hsinchu Environmental Protection Bureau.

  The Nanliao Fishing Harbor (南寮漁港) has long been a popular destination on weekends, and the Hsinchu City Government has over the past few years been trying to transform the Nanliao area, Hsinchu Deputy Mayor Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) said.

  

  Members of the Buddha’s Light International Association on Sunday remove an abandoned fishnet during a beach cleaning event organized by the Hsinchu Bureau of Environmental Protection.

  Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times

  In addition to a large kite-flying area without any utility poles, there is now an artificial beach next to the Nanliao Tourist Information Center where children can play, she said.

  There is also a newly installed stairway nearby designed to look like fish scales and the Nanliao Sports Park (南寮運動公園), Shen said.

  With the addition of these attractions, continuous maintenance and management have become crucial to keeping the environment clean, and it requires a group effort to ensure that the coastline and fields are free of trash, Shen added.

  

  Volunteers from 36 social groups such as the Buddha’s Light International Association on Sunday participate in a beach cleaning campaign organized by the Hsinchu Bureau of Environmental Protection.

  Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times

  Volunteers picked up various kinds of waste, such as plastic and glass bottles, and polystyrene foam, from the beach.

  Last year, volunteers even found an abandoned motorcycle, Shen said.

  The oceans are filled with plastic bags, straws and other plastic products that take a long time to break down in nature, not only damaging marine life, but also affecting human health through the food chain, Shen said.

  Ahead of Earth Day on Monday next week, Shen invited volunteers to pledge to reduce their use of single-use plastic products.

  Volunteers discovered that a majority of the waste on the beach was plastic, bureau Director Chiang Sheng-jen (江盛任) said.

  A Buddha’s Light International Association member found a large fishing net buried under the sand, he said, adding that it took three attempts by more than 20 volunteers to pull it out.

  To understand the marine debris problem and solve it at its source, the bureau has been collecting data and categorizing the trash collected in the annual cleanup using a chart designed by the International Coastal Cleanup, a movement launched by the Ocean Conservancy.

  The data have allowed the bureau to educate Hsinchu-based businesses, groups and individuals on key sources of marine waste and ways they can help solve the problem, it said.

  Hopefully, the data will help the bureau achieve its goal of managing marine debris at its source, and providing a clean and unpolluted coastal environment for residents and visitors, it added.
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