Plastic is piling up in Jeju. Tens of thousands of tons of the material is thrown out yearly on the island, and it takes centuries to degrade when put in a landfill. As Joseph Kim now reports, that’s prompted a number of initiatives designed to curb its use.

Plastics are used in thousands of products in our daily life.

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Plastic use increases as population grows

As more people visit and immigrate to the island, the usage of plastics has exploded in recent years.

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Plastic waste is a large part of marine debris, litter

Disposable cups are left here and there at tourist attractions and plastic marine debris is easily found washed up along the shores.

They are the culprit of much of the environmental pollution we see today.


70 tons of household plastic waste are produced everyday on the island.

That means 25,000 tons of plastics are thrown out yearly in Jeju. This is equivalent to 6,500 four-ton elephants.


INTERVIEW
Shin Seung-hui / Jeju City Environmental Facility Management Office
Plastic waste has multiplied over the last 5 years. With the recent hotter weather, people are throwing away more plastic bottles and other plastic containers.
<인터뷰 : 신승희 / 제주시 환경시설관리소>
"5년 전보다 몇 배는 늘어난 것 같아요. (요즘) 기온이 높아지면서 페트병이나 음료수 병, 커피 아이스컵이 많이 늘어난 것 같아요."

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Landfill in Bonggae, Jeju City

Some types of plastics and tainted plastics cannot be recycled.

More than 50 tons of recyclable waste are delivered to this place a day. One third of the materials are buried or incinerated here.

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400 years to degrade

Plastic waste takes 400 years to decompose.

Plastic particles in the soil move into the sea through underground water channels.

The microplastics are exposed not only to marine life but also to humans via consumption of affected seafood.

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Jeju Pass, WWF Korea, KCTV Jeju, etc. join efforts to reduce plastic use

A global movement is growing to solve the plastic pollution crisis.

The island also joins the global effort from the non-public sector.

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Coffee drinkers encouraged to use own tumblers

Local coffee shops participate in the effort to encourage coffee lovers to use tumblers instead of disposable cups.

Recording
Kim Gwi-jin / CEO, KCTV Jeju
We will fulfill our role to help rid the island of plastic waste and make Jeju an even cleaner place.
<싱크 : 김귀진 / KCTV제주방송 사장>
"제주도가 더 이상 플라스틱이 존재하지 않는 청정제주로 만들어가는 데 저희들의 역할을 다 할것이고."

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Discounts for coffee drinkers who use own cups

Tumbler users can get a ten percent discount off their beverage order and five percent of sales of each tumbler is donated to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Interview
Yun Se-ung / Korea branch, World Wide Fund for Nature
We'll publish material to teach young students what we can do to solve the plastic pollution crisis.
<인터뷰 : 윤세웅 / 세계자연기금 대표>
"많은 학생들, 교육적으로도 잘 활용할 수 있도록 교재 작성이나 (플라스틱 문제) 해결책을 만드는 데 적극적으로 사용될 것으로…."

[Reporter] Joseph Kim
[Camera] Hyeon Gwang-hoon

The island hopes the local movement could be the turning point to solve the plastic crisis.

Joseph Kim, KCTV