The Nippon Foundation, Environment Ministry to Jointly Launch Nationwide Beach Cleanup Campaign
The Nippon Foundation and the Japanese Environment Ministry will jointly sponsor a nationwide beach cleanup campaign during spring and autumn UMIGOMI (ocean waste) Zero weeks.
The Nippon Foundation and the Japanese Ministry of the Environment will jointly sponsor a nationwide beach cleanup campaign to raise public awareness of the issue of ocean debris and help reduce trash inflows into the ocean.
Under the annual project, large-scale cleanup activities will be carried out across Japan primarily during, but not limited to, the spring UMIGOMI (ocean waste) Zero Week which will run from “Zero Litter Day” on May 30 (a play on the Japanese pronunciation of 5-3-0) to World Oceans Day on June 8 and the autumn UMIGOMI Zero Week starting on World Cleanup Day on September 18 and ending on September 26.
The cleanup drive will be undertaken not only on the beach, but also in parks and other inland areas as roughly 80% of ocean debris flows into the ocean from cities and towns, meaning that reducing litter on land is essential to preventing marine debris from accumulating.
In 2019, a total of 430,000 people participated in the cleanup activities at about 1,500 places all over Japan. But in 2020, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, we called on participants to act in line with the anti-COVID-19 guidelines worked out by the foundation and the secretariat of the UMIGOM Zero Week project.
This year, the Japanese government has reimposed a state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, effective from April 25 until May 11. COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in many parts of the country and as of the morning of May 7 the government is preparing to extend the emergency declaration until May 31 with two more prefectures, Aichi and Fukuoka, to be added.
I hope that people who decide to join the campaign do so fully in accordance with the guidelines and take all possible precautions against the spread of COVID-19, including social distancing, mask wearing, and avoiding the “three Cs”: closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings. And of course, if other guidelines issued by the central and local governments are stricter than ours, then I would ask that they observe these.
Groups of 30 people and more participating in the campaign will be sent eco-friendly trash bags.
Meanwhile, The Nippon Foundation and the Environment Ministry also sponsor the UMIGOMI Zero Award to recognize superior activities, innovation, research and policies that can serve as role models for combating ocean debris. Applications are being accepted from March 22 through May 20. In 2020, we had 314 entries.
Winners are scheduled to be announced in September. The winner of UMIGOMI Zero Award Grand Prix will receive 1 million yen (about $9,200), while the winners of The Nippon Foundation Award and the Environment Minister Award will be given 250,000 yen (about $2,300) each.
Ocean debris is an increasingly serious issue worldwide with some experts forecasting that at the present rate, the total volume of plastic waste in the world’s oceans will exceed that of fish by 2050. I sincerely hope that the UMIGOMI Zero campaign will demonstrate Japan’s initiatives as an ocean country to the rest of the world in protecting the world’s oceans, creating a Japanese model that can be used throughout the world.
Environment-friendly plastic trash bags, containing more than 50% biomass plastic made from plants, will be sent to those who participate in cleanup campaigns in groups of 30 and more.
The more the trash-full bags pile up, the cleaner the ocean becomes.
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