Reducing marine waste has always been a global concern. To raise the public’s awareness on the issue of marine waste, the Eastern Group, which has always been committed to public welfare and environmental protection, chose the International Coastal Clean-Up Day on September 17 (Saturday) to clean up the beach of Green Bay in Wanli District, New Taipei City. Gary Wang, president of Eastern Group, called on the Group’s employees and led a team of 800 people to show their respect to the ocean through taking practical action. The team comprised students from Fu Jen Catholic University, Hsing Wu University, Shih Hsin University, Taipei Medical University, Mackay Junior College of Medicine, Nursing, and Management, and pupils of Wanli Elementary School. In response to the environmental policy of the New Taipei City Government, New Taipei City’s Deputy Mayor Liu He-Jan and Environmental Protection Department Director-General Cheng Ta-Wei also attended the event, where they also helped to pick up the waste on the beach under the glare of the bright sun. A total of 1,395.8 kg of waste was cleared, and they are calling on the public to do their part to protect the ocean through practical action.

   Eastern Group has been long committed to social welfare and environmental sustainability, and had set 2022 as the first year of “ESG for Eastern Group.” The primary goal of is the reduction of carbon emissions and maintaining green energy. Eastern Group’s President Gary Wang said: “Eastern Group has been involved in public welfare work for 21 years. In the past, we focused on caring for the disadvantaged and children in remote areas, but now we are joining hands with the rest of the world. 2022 is the first year of ESG for Eastern Group, and we need to protect the environment in every aspect of our business operations. The sunscreens of Eastern Natural Beauty are physical sunscreens made of mineral ingredients, which will not harm the ocean. All of Eastern’s self-operated products use raw materials and agricultural products locally sourced in Taiwan as much as possible to reduce the carbon footprint, while we are also working towards plastic reduction in our packaging. The companies of the Eastern Group will continue to move towards becoming a social enterprise focusing on ESG.” Gary Wang further thanked the beach cleanup volunteers: “Today is International Coastal Clean-Up Day, and we are responding to Mayor Hou’s call to come together to carry out beach cleanup activities. We are very grateful to the 700-something volunteers who participated to do their part for the land, to protect our homeland, and to help the environment and society.”

   Green Bay in Wanli District, New Taipei City, is a famous seaside attraction on the North Coast. But if you take a closer look at the beach, you will discover that it is filled with all kinds of marine waste that washed up on to the shore with the ocean currents, such as PET bottles, slippers, polystyrene and fishing nets. Not only do these waste ruin the landscape, but also have an impact on the environment. New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Liu He-Jan pointed out: “The coastline of New Taipei City is 122 kilometers. Under Mayor Hou’s policy, more than 600 beach clean-up events have been held so far this year. Today, we are grateful to the Eastern Group for bringing together teachers and students from six schools, making up nearly 800 volunteers, to participate in the beach cleanup. In the past, there were five times more non-recyclable garbage than recyclable garbage out of the waste cleared from the beaches, and more than 70% of it was household garbage.” According to the latest information released by The Ocean Conservancy, among the top 10 global beach waste, in addition to the cigarette butts in first place, the other nine are mostly related to plastic products, including PET bottles (bottle caps), food packaging bags, and plastic utensils. Once the garbage flows into the ocean and is consumed by marine life, it severely affects the ecosystem.

   Liu He-Jan said in particular that there are currently 67 companies in Taiwan that have adopted the coastline of New Taipei City, and the New Taipei City Government has also established a beach cleaning cooperative in cooperation with a total of 34 stores around the coast. If visitors want to clean the beach after eating seafood, all they need to do is to find a store that has a beach cleaning cooperative label to receive beach cleaning tools. After the cleanup, they simply need to call the refuse removal team to collect the garbage. The public can also reflect on how we can protect the environment during the beach cleaning process. New Taipei City’s Environmental Protection Department Director-General Cheng Ta-Wei also called on the public to start by reducing the use of disposable cutlery and tableware. It is an important goal of the New Taipei City Government to promote the implementation of environmental education from actions in daily life.

   The “Join Hands to Clean the Beach, Protect the Coast” beach cleanup event not only brought together employees of the Eastern Group and teachers and students from the six schools to participate in marine conservation efforts, but also the Group’s president Gary Wang. He is known as a “rehabilitated entrepreneur” and has been actively involved in helping to rehabilitate former inmates for many years. Today eight rehabilitated individuals also participated in the beach cleanup event, where they held up signs with the slogan “Long Live Positive Energy.” Everyone must be involved and do their share in protecting the environment, not matter who you are.

   The beach cleanup cleared a total of 1,395.8 kilograms of waste, and the sight of such an enormous amount of waste placed together was particularly shocking. The volunteers who participated in the event were surprised to see the results:  “We never knew there was so much waste hidden on our beautiful coast! “The first year of ESG for Eastern Group was 2022, and practical action was taken to set an example for others to follow. The aim was to let everyone know that change starts with yourself, and even a tiny step could have a huge impact on the earth.