Running Events Lead to Increased Plastic Pollution|台灣路跑場次多 塑膠製品害汙染
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There are close to 1,000 road running events across Taiwan every year, with over 500,000 participants. However, Greenpeace has found that the accessories at these events, such as towels, running gear and water bottles, leave significant amount of plastic waste and microbeads in the environment.
Many who participate in road running events in Taiwan receive souvenirs such as running gear, towels and water bottles. These items release microbeads upon washing which harms the maritime ecology.
Greenpeace has found microbeads in 87 percent of the water samples collected near the South Pole. Therefore, we hope that the road running events could limit or ban the use of synthetic running gears.
Outside of running gears, the London Marathon that concluded last April left countless water bottles along the road, same as the events in Taiwan. According to Greenpeace' statistics, there are 784 road running events in Taiwan in 2017, if 5,000 people participated in every event, that means at least 4 million water bottles, 3 million souvenir shirts and 3 million bags were given away. The bottles are enough to pile up to 394 times the height of Taipei 101.
Taipei City government will incorporate environmental protection measures in this year's Taipei Marathon and ask runners to prepare their own running gear and bottles.
We will incorporate measures to reduce environmental pollution, and ask those who join local running events to provide their own gear.
Local surveys have shown that over 90 percent of runners are willing to support the government's initiative and reduce the amount of plastic souvenirs given away at running events.
