On 12 September 2023, NOWPAP RCU Toyama office staff members participated in the annual beach clean-up campaign at Iwasehama Beach in Toyama City, Toyama, Japan.
A total of 57 people participated in this campaign, including local elementary school children, university students, NGO, and local governments.
Participants were divided into two groups and allocated separate areas on the beach: one was to collect regular waste, and another was to collect “micro-plastics”.
After the collection time, each group counted the number of items and measured individual weight.
On this day, a total of 2,323 g (1,003 items) of marine litter were collected, of which 81.9% of the weight counted for plastic items. One hundred seventy-one micro-plastic items were also collected.
After the counting/measuring was completed, NPEC, the host of this beach clean-up campaign, made a short presentation to the school kids on the marine environment.