Chinese volunteers team up to clean up beach in Dalian

Chinese volunteers team up to clean up beach in Dalian Representatives of the government agencies and research institutes from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, as well as participants from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, and non-governmental organizations teamed up with volunteers from China to clean up the Bangchui Beach in Dalian, China, on 25 September 2019. The campaign organized by the Northwest Pacific Action Plan and the Trilateral Environmental Ministers Meeting among China, Japan, and Korea, in cooperation with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, the Dalian Ecology and Environment Bureau, and the Dalian Volunteers Association on Environmental Protection, demonstrated the willingness of governments and civil society to stand up against marine litter. More than 150 people joined this event and collected 76 kilograms of litter, which included 220 plastics items (weighing a total of 16.6 kilograms), 93 rubber items (26.6 kilograms), 17 metal items (8.5 kilograms) and four glass items (0.4 kilograms). Implementation of such joint activities resulted in clear public awareness impacts, both short- and long-term. For instance, one of the volunteers from the Dalian Customs House said: "Before the campaign, I noticed the beach seemed to be clean already, but I was surprised that we still could collect so many kinds of litter." Two tourists, also present at the site, were encouraged by the clean-up activity and joined the Dalian Volunteers Association on Environmental Protection. The Volunteers Association guided the participants on how to collect buried litter. The Northwest Pacific Action Plan is proactively involved in several activities to address marine litter since 2006. It organizes annual coastal clean-up campaigns among China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation on a rotating basis. Haibing Zhang, Deputy Secretary-General of Dalian Metropolitan Government, expressed his appreciation to the Northwest Pacific Action Plan for selecting Dalian to host the campaign this year. He emphasized that "the Dalian Metropolitan Government has launched a five-month operation to clean litter on the beach. We have assembled 45,000 people to clean 2,700 tonnes of litter at the beach this year. We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the Northwest Pacific Action to protect the ocean.”               Photo Credit: Dalian Environmental Protection Volunteers Association  Photographer: Fengxiang ZHANG