What We Do against Marine Debris

1. What We Do against Marine Debris Environmental Waste Management Division, Department of Environmental and Community Affairs of Okinawa

2. Marine debris (beaches In Okinawa)

3. Changes over the years • Marine debris, especially from oversea, has been increase tendency in Okinawa. Unknown Oversea Domestic The volume of marine debris per kilometer (the number of pieces per kilometer) Years when the investigation was conducted Source：marine debris problem that is getting serious in Okinawa (Hareyuki YAMAGUCHI, 2008）

4. Characteristics(seasonal ,material) • With the impact of monsoon, a lot of marine debris arrives at north and north east coast in winter. • plastic bottles, buoys, Styrofoam are the major types of marine debris. Others Plastic bottles Wooden materials Current volume Fishing buoys Styrofoam Other plastic materials

5. Marine debris (beaches at Miyako island, Okinawa) Before Clean up Nobember2010 After Clean up January 2011 2 months later

6. Characteristics(percentages by country/region of origin) • After analyzing label of plastic bottles, we found out that they are mostly from oversea countries such as China, South Korea; regions such as Taiwan etc. Unknown The number of plastic bottles - 3842 Japan China Others Taiwan South Korea

7. Issues • A lot of effort and money will take to collect and treat them. Marine debris keeps coming and it is difficult to stop it. • This isolated island does not have enough waste treatment facilities and they sometimes have to pay to transport marine debris by sea in the distance. • It is not easy for the prefectural government to control the source because it is from oversea.

8. Legislation • In order to promote measures against marine debris, act for the promotion of marine litter processing was enacted in 2009. • In order to smoothly treat marine debris and to control the source, these measure are carried out: • Clarifying who is responsible for the treatment • Diplomatically proper treatment for oversea marine debris • Financial measure

9. What we do(Okinawa prefectural government) • Investigation on marine debris • Outsourcing collection and treatment as public works • Creating promotional materials

10. Working with the local community • Supporting volunteer groups for beach cleaning (providing tools, treating collected litter) • Sharing information with the administration and volunteer groups • Promoting beach cleaning event throughout the prefecture

11. Beach cleanup Event by OCCN(Okinawa clean coast network)

12. Dangerous objects Explosives such as flare and gas cylinder Medical objects Containers with unknown liquid inside

13. The 3.11, 2011 tsunami debrisreached Okinawa Miyagi prefecture Okinawa prefecture (Taketomi town)

14. small fishing boat The 3.11, 2011 tsunami debris reached Okinawa July 2012 Container for fishing ⑩　漁業用コンテナ Post Case for Japanese liquor May 2013 small fishing boat ship radar December 2012 January 2013 December 2012 January 2013 A part of fishing boat Building material March 2013 small fishing boat undersea cable 10 articles are identified TSUNAMI debris. (July 2012 - September 2013) March 2013 January 2013 March 2013