Sea and Japan Project Public Relations Office
Ride the Iyo Railway suburban train and pick up trash from rivers, the sea, and the city! As part of Spring Marine Litter Zero Week, we held the “Train de Garbage Pickup Stamp Rally”!
Sunday, June 2, 2024 10:00-15:00
……
The Sea and Japan Project in Ehime, a general incorporated
association, will hold a special cooperation project with the Iyotetsu Group, a comprehensive corporate group involved in transportation, tourism, and town development, on June 2nd (Sunday) as part of Spring Marine Litter Zero Week. Originally, we held the “Train de Garbage Pickup Stamp Rally.”
This event will be held as part of the marine litter countermeasure project “Ocean and Japan Project – CHANGE FOR THE BLUE” promoted by the Nippon Foundation.
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/77920/2652/resize/d77920-2652-5cb6540b7f1b62206aef-0.jpg&s3=77920-2652-ba46e80dd61fcb1978e1ddccada147e8-2048×1538.jpg] Event overview
・Event overview: As part of Spring Zero Marine Litter Week, parents and children can collect garbage stamps by riding on Iyo Railway’s suburban train with special cooperation from the Iyotetsu Group, a comprehensive corporate group involved in transportation, tourism, and town development. We held a rally. The five stations that serve as checkpoints are located near rivers, the sea, and cities, allowing students to learn about the differences in garbage in rivers, the sea, and cities, and to learn that urban areas are the main source of marine garbage. The purpose was to learn.
・Date: June 2nd (Sun) 10:00-15:00
・Venues: Iyo Railway Suburban Train Umetsuji Station (sea),
Gunchuminato Station (sea), Ishidegawa Koen Station (river), Yokogawara Station (river), near the Iyotetsu Takashimaya north taxi stand (city)
・Number of participants: 17 families, total 49 people
・Cooperating organization: Iyotetsu Group
Get on the suburban train and head out to pick up trash at a stamp rally! A total of 49 participants from 17 families gathered at the Castle Room on the 7th floor of Taiyotetsu Takashimaya, the venue for the opening ceremony. After receiving guidance on the purpose of the event and precautions, everyone took a commemorative photo and immediately set out for the garbage collection stamp rally. Participants will be heading to five stations that serve as cleaning points set by the organizers. Iyo Railway’s suburban trains operate mainly in urban areas, but also in suburban areas near rivers and coastlines, and the five stations that will be featured this time are located near rivers, the sea, and the city. The purpose of this event was to have participants pick up trash in rivers, the ocean, and the city, and learn about the different types of trash that are picked up in each location, and that urban areas are the main source of marine trash.
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/77920/2652/resize/d77920-2652-85EB789874587C65929B-1.jpg &s3=77920-2652-F13EDAA4449D7A9387 EE35F763-3021X1125.jpg]
What I noticed while picking up trash in rivers, coasts, and urban areas…! ? The event time limit is 3pm. By then, participants must pick up trash at at least three of the five designated points. The first point that many participants came to was Umezudera Station, which is located along the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. It is a 1 minute walk from the station to the coast. Participants immediately went to the shore to collect the trash that had washed ashore. At this point, we saw a lot of plastic waste, pieces of Styrofoam, bottle cans, etc., and we were able to collect approximately 20 kg of garbage, including 16 kg of combustible garbage and 3.8 kg of non-combustible garbage.
In addition, at Ishitegawa-Koen Station, a station along the Ishidegawa River that runs through the center of the city, we collected litter scattered around the green park that stretches along the riverbed around the station. Due to the rain that had fallen a few days earlier, much of the garbage that would have been in the river had flowed downstream, but garbage still covered in grass and bushes in the riverside park still contained garbage that had occurred in the river basin. There was a lot of trash that appeared to be from park users. At this point, we were able to collect approximately 21 kilograms of garbage, including 15 kilograms of combustible garbage and 6.1 kilograms of non-combustible garbage.
The last place the participants picked up trash was around Iyotetsu Takashimaya, a commercial facility located in the city center. At first glance, it seemed like there wasn’t much trash around this point, but there were about 6 kg of trash, including 3.2 kg of combustible trash such as cigarette butts stuck in drains and plastic containers left in the shrubbery, and 2.5 kg of non-combustible trash. I was able to recover it.
By picking up trash at multiple points, the participants seemed to have learned through their own voluntary trash picking activities that the types and amounts of trash are different in rivers, beaches, and urban areas.
In the end, the total amount of garbage collected at the five points was 44.3 kilograms of combustible garbage and 19.8 kilograms of non-combustible garbage, making a total of 64.1 kilograms of garbage collected during this event.
[Image 3: https://prtimes.jp/i/77920/2652/resize/d77920-2652-f0af00cc2e38b01a9e06-2.jpg&s3=77920-2652-98588c75c2ff06232668a9e9f13faa4c-3020×1125.jpg] Voices from participating children and parents
・It was my first time to go out picking up trash on a train and it was fun! (Child)
・The garbage in the river had been washed away by the rain, but I found garbage caught in the grass. (Child)
・It was the first time for me to pick up trash in three locations: the river, the city, and the coast, so it was refreshing. There was less garbage in the ocean than I expected, and there was a lot of cigarettes and plastic containers in the city. (Parent)
・I want to pick up trash, but I have trouble disposing of it, so it was nice to be able to pick up trash at each point like this time. (Parent)
-Organization overview-
Organization name: General Incorporated Association Sea and Japan Project in Ehime
URL: https://ehime.uminohi.jp/
Activities: Gathering information and publicizing event activities to create a movement for food, culture, sports, festivals, etc. centered around the sea in Ehime Prefecture
[Image 4: https://prtimes.jp/i/77920/2652/resize/d77920-2652-998dba38fca8bf89c9da-4.png&s3=77920-2652-6941f565ec2ea663e8640b5565bb033e-632×260.png ]
CHANGE FOR THE BLUE
As part of the Nippon Foundation’s “Ocean and Japan Project,” the 2018 This is a project that has been underway since November. We will work with stakeholders from industry, government, academia, and the public to create a marine litter reduction model and disseminate it domestically and internationally.
https://uminohi.jp/umigomi/
[Image 5: https://prtimes.jp/i/77920/2652/resize/d77920-2652-3414f5683aa3623daa1f-5.png&s3=77920-2652-826ce89d2c5d243691e01e82f00af811-1868×535.png ]
Nippon Foundation “Ocean and Japan Project”
The sea supports Japanese people’s lives in various ways, sometimes giving them peace of mind, excitement, and inspiration. This is an all-Japan project that aims to encourage people across the country, including children, to view the ongoing environmental deterioration of the ocean as their own, and to expand the circle of action to preserve the ocean for future generations. is.
https://uminohi.jp/
More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000002652.000077920.html