Students in Okayama Win 'Supporting Next Generation Award' for Efforts to Tackle Seabed Waste

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Students belonging to the Geography and History Club of Sanyo Joshi (girls) Junior and Senior High School in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, won the Supporting Next Generation Award as part of the third Mainichi Earth Future Awards hosted by The Mainichi Newspapers Co., and were honored at the award ceremony held in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, on February 16, 2014. The students were recognized for their efforts to tackle the problem of seafloor waste in the Seto Inland Sea. The Supporting Next Generation Award is given to young people who are engaged in proactive activities to address environmental and other issues to create a brighter future.

Since 2008, the members of the Geography and History Club have been collecting trash to clean up the seafloor as well as conducting awareness-raising activities to curb waste generation. Once a month, they join local fishermen on their fishing boats to go offshore and collect trash using a dragnet. Then, they sort the collected items and trace the sources of the waste. The results are summarized in a table, and unusual items are displayed at events as hands-on exhibits. Furthermore, the students are trying to give children a better understanding of the issue of seafloor trash using marine waste karuta (playing cards) they created.

The JFS Newsletter No.127 (March 2013) introduces the details of the students' activities.