During the recent beach cleanup, with the cooperation of the "Miyakojima Sea Environmental Network,"
A workshop was also held at the same time. This time I will introduce the contents.

The first place in the "amount of drifting garbage" is PET bottles.
Collect it separately from other garbage. Various garbage was washed ashore on this day.

The collected PET bottles were arranged on the sandy ground by country and counted.
(It is said that it is possible to identify the country of manufacture by the number (first three characters) of the bar code printed on the label of the PET bottle.)

さて、結果は…
3位　ベトナム　6個
2位　マレーシア　10個
1位　中国　164個

And here's the point. (By the way, Japan had two.)

Next, the results of a survey on the amount of lighters washed ashore on Midway Island in the North Pacific Ocean were introduced. This is by far Japan's number 1.
It is said that this result is due to the influence of the Kuroshio Current, and that it is not simply a matter of ``the people of XX have bad manners''.

In addition, if garbage is left unattended, it will deteriorate due to sunlight, wind and rain, and will become smaller and smaller.
In the case of plastic, it eventually becomes "microplastic" so small that it cannot be picked up and flows into the sea. It was also introduced that the marine ecosystem has a great impact on our lives as well.
It was a day that made me realize the importance of picking up trash.

ワークショップとビーチ清掃後、集めたごみの前で記念撮影。この瞬間はキレイになりましたが、またすぐにゴミが漂着しているに違いありません。

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今回はわずか１時間ほどの清掃でしたが、様々な種類のゴミを目の当たりにし、ワークショップでは漂着ゴミを通して地球の環境について考えるきっかけになりました。
当たり前のことですが、
✔︎ポイ捨てをしない、
✔︎ゴミを増やさない努力をする、
✔︎使い捨てのものについて考える、等、
先ずは身の回りの小さなことから改めて見直し、生活にもしっかり反映させていこうと感じた一日でした。
「宮古島海の環境ネットワーク」のみなさん、貴重な機会をありがとうございました。