Joining underwater cleanup volunteer activities at Mojiko Retro
Although the weather in Kitakyushu continues to be unstable, we have been able to conduct drills in July without any major inclement weather, probably due to the presence of strong sunshine bringer in NSTC.
During that kind of unstable weather, on Sunday, July 11, a volunteer cleanup of the Mojiko Retro No. 1 dock was held, and five of our staff members who are frequently engaged in diving task at NSTC joined in the cleanup!Actually, the weather forecast was that there would be a thunderstorm warning that day… and if so, the activity would be cancelled, but it cleared up beautifully during the activity!
Fortunately, we were blessed with good weather, as it rained heavily right after the activity finished.
(from the left: Yohei, Yuki, Takashi, Junichi, Eri. If you see us at NSTC, please say hello)
This activity was inaugurated by a diver who has been cooperating with NSTC’s training.This was our third time to participate in this volunteer activity, the first was in Murasaki River and the second in Shin Moji.
The trash collected during the dive is moved around the seabed while small items such as empty cans are placed in nets distributed in advance, and when large trash is found, it is taken to the designated collection point as shown in the photo with the support of the staff onshore.
Some of the groups of volunteer staff collected TVs and bicycles like this one!
A photo taken during a break after the first dive
A family of NSTC staff member were there for us to cheer up!
One of the volunteers who participated with us posted a video on YouTube, if you’re interested!
In this video, from 1:45, you can see our NSTC staff trying their best to pull up a microwave oven thinking it was a safety box. It was heavy!
All of us at NSTC had a great time participating in the event, but the purpose of the event was to raise awareness of the problem of marine litter in 2050, which in a sense is no one’s business but our own.
If the current pace continues, there will be more trash than fish in 2050 (in terms of weight), and 80% of marine debris flows out to the ocean from rivers and ports, so the organizer dare to conduct underwater cleanups in places where there are a lot of people in the city in order to raise awareness of this issue.
On this day, too, we were asked by people who came for a walk or sightseeing, “What are you doing?” I would like to continue to join the activities, hoping that more people will pay attention to the issue.
(Eri, Quality Management Section)
