Sinan-gun, Easy 'Disposal' of Marine Debris through Development of Special Machinery Devices

Shinan-gun held a demonstration at Jaeun Oegisea Beach by attaching specially designed collection devices to five agricultural tractors to efficiently promote the Sea Environment Guardian Support Project. (Photo by Shinan-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Seo Young-seo] Jeonnam Sinan-gun (Governor Park Woo-ryang) announced on the 12th that, to efficiently promote the new project of the Sea Environment Keeper Support Project, five agricultural tractors were equipped with specially manufactured collection devices and a demonstration was held on the 1st at Jaeun Oegihae Beach with the direct participation of Governor Park Woo-ryang and village residents.

Until now, marine debris was collected only by hand, making it impossible to handle the influx of waste from both domestic and international sources.

Sinan-gun, which has many islands, devised a solution by attaching a machine with a harrow function that scrapes and digs the sandy bottom to agricultural tractors, along with a large collection device for large fishing gear such as big Styrofoam, enabling efficient collection of buried debris and large waste in the sand.

Sinan-gun has employed Sea Environment Keepers at famous tourist beaches such as Jeungdo Ujeon, Imja Daegwang, Jaeun Baekgil, Bigeum Myeongsasipri, and Dochodo Uido, and has first deployed tractors equipped with special collection devices and collection vehicles to quickly handle beach waste, providing tourists with a pleasant marine environment.

Additionally, with a budget of 1 billion KRW, eight onboard collection centers and ten onshore collection centers will be installed for the collection and temporary storage of waste flowing into the sea and coastal areas.

In particular, to recycle waste Styrofoam gathered at the collection centers, with a budget of 900 million KRW, incinerators will be installed in addition to the four existing operational districts in Jido-eup, Aphae-eup, and Bigeum-myeon for incineration treatment and sale. They are also considering recycling original PE aquaculture buoys not as waste but as large-scale sculptures, which is expected to yield a triple benefit including budget savings.

An environmental cleanup ship selected for a national project worth 4.8 billion KRW will develop underwater devices to revolutionarily handle marine floating debris.

Governor Park Woo-ryang said, “Since the opening of the Cheonsa Bridge, many tourists have been visiting clean Sinan to see the well-maintained flowers and forests. As the amount of marine debris inflow increases every year, we have been pondering collection methods, and we are pleased to have developed a special mechanical device as an efficient waste collection method, marking a groundbreaking turning point in marine debris management.”

He added, “We will also do our best to preserve the Dadohae Biosphere and to register the Sinan mudflats as a World Cultural Heritage site.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.