The PwC team spent their Saturday collecting trash which gets washed ashore from the Yangtze river on to the park walk way. Throughout this trip they learnt about the source of our trash and the various categories in which they can be classified into. While picking up pieces of Styrofoam boxes and plastic bottles, the participants had an engaging discussion on how they can reduce their trash. By the end of the morning, the group had collected over 50 bags of trash.
“no amount of trash cleanup activities will ever be sufficient to cleanup the coastlines of Shanghai, since most of the waste is generated upstream”
This trip was a follow up activity of the waste management workshop conducted in their Shanghai office on 1st April, where they learnt about The New Shanghai Waste Management Policy. (Click the link for more information!)
The participants competed within groups to see who picked up the largest amount of trash. After the trash pick, they continued with a trash relay race, carrying empty plastic bottles as their race baton; thus combining fitness with education and cleaning up. A big thanks to the local park authorities in helping to dispose the recyclable material collected from the cleanup activity.
The coastline was littered with all kinds of trash with plastics waste being the most abundant. There were clothes, footwear, glass and metal containers and even quite a lot of hazardous waste like batteries strewn all over the place, in between the wave breakers. An interesting find during the waste pick up was the number of cigarette lighters among the other waste. This is a very dangerous type of waste product to be disposed irresponsibly, as birds often feed on them mistaking them for food particles, leading to a lot of fatalities among their species.
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After successfully completing this activity, PwC’s Suzhou office is planning a similar trip to wage their war against waste.
This trip was organized by Green Initiatives in collaboration with Trash Running China, a social plogging group started in Shanghai. They organize weekly runs in various locations and pick up the trash they see on the roads. ‘Plogging’ - the act of jogging and picking up litter.
“Trash Running China focuses on contributing to our society, and environment while also being active.”
Write to us at info@greeninitiatives.cn to organize similar sessions in your organization or get the complete list of workshops, talks and activities we offer.
