West Sea Coast Guard Cheong Collected Over 26,000 Discarded Plastic Water Bottles Last Year

Gunsan Coast Guard's 'Woosangsoon' Marine Pollution Project Successful... Expanding to Mokpo Waters from This Year

The West Sea Regional Coast Guard Agency (Commissioner Kim In-chang) has reported successful results from the ‘Useongsun Project,’ which is being promoted to prevent marine pollution caused by plastic water bottles generated on fishing vessels.

According to the West Sea Coast Guard on the 12th, marine debris such as plastic entering domestic waters amounts to about 145,000 tons annually. Due to the pollution caused and the significant deterioration of marine aesthetics, the agency has been promoting the Useongsun Project since 2023 as part of proactive administration.

Useongsun is an acronym derived from the phrase ‘Uri Saengsubyeong Dwegajyeowa Jawon-euro Sunhwanhaeyo’ (Let’s Bring Back Our Water Bottles and Recycle Them as Resources). Under this project, led by the Gunsan Coast Guard Station, campaigns for environmental protection and resource recycling have been conducted mainly in the Gunsan waters.

Marine debris such as plastics was collected in the Mokpo sea area.
[Photo by Seohae Regional Coast Guard]

Accordingly, the West Sea Coast Guard Agency, together with the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation and the Fisheries Cooperative, established a role-sharing plan for the promotion, collection, transportation, and disposal of waste plastics and began collecting water bottles.

As a result, the Gunsan Coast Guard Station collected an impressive 20,600 waste plastic water bottles (approximately 1 ton) over about eight months from May to December last year.

Building on this achievement, the West Sea Coast Guard is promoting the project in the Mokpo waters this year and conducted an inspection of the Useongsun Project’s operation status on the 12th, targeting the Gunsan and Mokpo Coast Guard Stations.

During the inspection, the efficient operation of the related agencies’ consultative body and progress status were checked, with a focus on on-site safety inspections of collection and storage locations in response to typhoons and heavy rains.

Park Jae-min, Head of the Marine Pollution Prevention Division at the West Sea Coast Guard Agency, stated, “Through the Useongsun Project, we have collected many plastic water bottles, improving the marine environment and aesthetics, and have instilled in many fishermen the awareness that PET bottles should not be discarded into the sea.” He urged fishermen to actively participate in resource recycling and environmental pollution prevention.

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