Honghonger Raises Awareness on Plastic Pollution on Orchid Island|港人造舟渡黑潮 號召蘭嶼遊客清垃圾

A man from Hong Kong has decided to raise awareness on the issue of plastic pollution on Taiwan's outlying Orchid Island. The man built a boat in eastern Taitung city and plans to sail all the way to Orchid Island to raise money to help clean plastic waste.


Hu Tzi-kang from Hong Kong has designed his own dragon boat and he plans to use it to sail to Taiwan's outlying Orchid Island in order to raise awareness on the issue of plastic pollution. The boat's main structure took two years to build, and the main hull is now completed. Despite having exhausted his saving on the project, Hu said that both Hong Kong and the Orchid Island are popular islands for tourists, and they both face increasing plastic pollution. He plans to row his boat all the way to the Orchid Island along with the native residents. He hopes the act will raise awareness on the plastic pollution on the island.

This is because of an environmental protection issue.

We will sail towards the clean and beautiful sea on our way to Orchid Island, and that will be our aim.

During its peak tourism seasons, the Orchid Island sees an additional 120 tons of garbage every month, most of which consists of plastic bottles and bags. The local residents have dedicated one location for processing plastic waste, called Kasiboan. The place has become a new tourist attraction. However, the processing of plastic waste is still waiting for the assistance from the public and private sectors. The Orchid Island Environmental Education Association established recently aims at raising awareness on this issue.

Most of us have been stuck at the stage of expanding the amount of garbage. I just wonder why we can't be more creative.

The dragon boat from Hong Kong and Orchid Island's traditional tatala boat will set off on May 13 from Taitung City's Daren Township towards Orchid Island. The goal of the sail is to encourage tourists to bring their waste away in order to help alleviate the pollution problem on the island.