Taiwan’s SOW finds plastic waste threatens coastal environment

報導媒體：中央廣播電台

Taiwan’s SOW finds plastic waste threatens coastal environment

The Society of Wilderness (SOW), a non-profit organization, is dedicated to protecting wild lands, allowing nature to manage and revive by itself. In November last year, the organization released the results of their study on beach cleanup activity in 2014. The study shows that plastic debris, styrofoam pieces and plastic bags are the top three of the garbage they have collected.

They cleaned up 7,931 kg of garbage along the 18 beaches in Taiwan. Plastic trash does not  dissolve, but instead breaks down into debris that flows into the oceans and stays on the beach where the plastic would be eaten by fish, sea turtles and sea birds. Plastic bags release plasticizer in the ocean and this harmful substance after being eaten by sea animals would go into human’s stomach through the food chain. Plasticizer may cause cancer, birth defects, allergies and other developmental disorders.

Joyce Lin, the secondary convener of the Society of Wilderness (SOW) said her organization has called for the public to cut down on the use of plastic bags and urged the government to enhance waste management.