Doing good: We went to beach cleaning

Written by GHRM MBA Rosie Cao/ Edited by College of Management

After taking a one-year delay, the Trash to Treasure event is back! The event was held on 26th November 2021 with an impressive turnout of 25 enthusiastic volunteers, consisting of freshmen and seniors from IBMBA and GHRM MBA, who are driven by a sense of purpose to keep our mountain and ocean clean. 

The SA team and the participants arrived at the local Chaishan fishery beach (柴山漁港), located above the NSYSU campus in the afternoon. Kicking off the event, Priya Gupta, a bachelor’s degree student in National Cheng Kung University and a volunteer of Domi Earth, delivered a speech on “how Taiwan goes from a “garbage island” to zero waste”. Priya also provided a little background on how Domi Earth (https://www.domiearth.com/), played their part in helping everyone take pride in taking action to save energy, save money, and protect our common home – for our children, grandchildren, and neighbors both near and far. They also helped raise awareness of the mess created by single-use plastics.

The main event of the day, mountain and beach cleaning, started right after the sharing. The participants started the cleaning journey along the mountainside and ended up at the fishery beach. The chilly weather, accompanied by the breathtaking view, left the volunteers in awe as they equipped themselves with gloves, tongs, and trash bags, fully prepared to do their part in protecting our environment. The volunteers were split into three different groups, with each taking a different mountainous path, before ending at the beach. With the goal in mind, the volunteers covered as many corners of the hill as possible, ranging from pathways, roadsides, and even housing estates. Most wastes were trapped amongst the plants and rocks like plastic cups, old food wrappers, plastic straws, fishing gears, cigarette filters, surgical masks...etc.

Concluding the event, the volunteers returned to the cafe for a well-deserved break. The sense of satisfaction can be seen on the faces of the volunteers as they enjoyed their refreshments while chatting heartily with their peers. 

The 3-hour activity has taught the participants an important lesson about environmental awareness: it may seem insignificant to leave one tiny cup or plastic bag on the ground, but if a hundred people do the same thing, the effect can be devastating. Making sure you take care and clean up all the items you bring to the beach is the minimum you could do to protect the environment. Quoting a phrase from the organizer, “we hope that the participants will understand the importance of environmental conservation through active participation and that more people will attend activities like this”.