Focus changes to scooping ocean trash
Print Edition
A CHINESE businessman who made a living off the ocean now spends his time and money on scooping trash from the waters.
With a rumble of engine noise, the garbage collection ship Canghai No. 9 returned from its 438th mission and moored in the port of Shengsi Island in Zhoushan City in Zhejiang Province.
Measuring 16.5 meters long by 3.6 meters wide, the ship has a loading capacity of 21 tonnes. Its deck held a big basket of trash, including plastic bags, bottles and disposable meal boxes. Its owner, Yang Shichai, was busy moving trash collected from the ocean off the ship. Its final destination would be a garbage treatment plant on the island.
Designed by Yang himself, the trash-collecting ship cost him around 530,000 yuan (US$80,800) to build.
The ship has retrieved over 2,000 cubic meters of garbage from the ocean since it was put into use in May 2016.
“I’ve earned some money because of the ocean. I just want to give back to it what I’ve gained,” said Yang, who has tanned skin and scars on his hands from working long hours outdoors every day.
Growing up along the shore, he started a refueling service for ships at sea at the age of 18. Later, he set up a company to recycle the oil residue.
But his focus shifted from profits to the ocean itself because of a video.
“A dead whale was found in the Pacific. Its belly was full of trash after being opened,” Yang recalled. “The horrible scene from that video sticks in my mind.”
Yang said that he is not well educated, but he understands one principle: if you live near the ocean, you must protect it because you rely on it to raise your family.
A study published in Science in 2015 said that 8 million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the ocean each year.
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