Removing 1.2 Tons of Debris from Remote Island Beach at Cleanup Demonstration Rally

I made a one-day trip to Hiroshima Prefecture in western Japan in mid-November to participate in a rally to demonstrate the efficient recovery and processing of large amounts of debris that have washed up on a remote island.

The event was designed to serve as a model case for other parts of the country that are hard for local residents to access.

The day’s rally was joined by approximately 200 people, including Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki, members of a local fishery cooperative and officials of the prefectural and municipal governments as well as foreign trainees and cosplayers committed to tackling marine debris.

We used a landing craft to bring specialized vehicles, plastic compactors and other heavy equipment to Atata Island in Hiroshima Bay. After a 90-minute cleanup, the participants removed roughly 1.2 tons of debris, including about 400 large white plastic foam floats, from a 350-meter section of Nagaura Beach on the island.

The large floats had come from rafts used in marine farming or had acted as buffers between moored ships and wharfs. Using the compactors, it was possible to reduce them to a tenth of their original size. This slashes the cost and effort required to transport them, both on land and at sea.　The cleanup rally was part of “Setouchi Oceans X,” a five-year project launched in December 2020 by The Nippon Foundation together with Hiroshima and three other prefectures that encircle the Seto Inland Sea. It aims to slash the amount of marine debris in the sea to “infinitely close to zero” by reducing trash inflow by some 70% and increasing trash collection by a little over 10% in five years.

After the event, Governor Yuzaki said: “Looking around today, I felt that we have to take it to heart that it’s easy to create rubbish, but extremely hard to clear it up.” 

I told the participants: “Four prefectural governors have teamed up with the aim of making the Seto Inland Sea the most beautiful inland sea in the world. Let’s work together for a beautiful Seto Inland Sea.”  

I believe the event demonstrated how efficiently we can remove large amounts of debris on remote islands by mobilizing heavy equipment. The Nippon Foundation will use the expertise gained through this rally to create models for efficient cleanup activities on remote islands and other areas that are difficult to access.

List of vehicles and equipment used for the beach cleanup rally held on Atata Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, on November 17, 2022.