Economic impact

*Click the photos to enlarge.

Degraded landscape affects tourism

Garbage spoils scenery, a serious issue that may lead to a decline in the number of tourists. Tourists visiting such sites may complain about the unsightly and dirty landscape.

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Impact of garbage on the fishery industry

• When garbage is mixed in with fishery products, it has to be removed. If small pieces of garbage are mixed in with seaweeds such as algae and Cladosiphon okamuranus, or small fishery products such as baby sardines, it will be very difficult to sort and remove such garbage, placing a huge burden on the fishery operators.
  If contaminants such as garbage are mixed in with a fishery product, the commercial value of that product will go down (damage to reputation).
• Since degraded plastic garbage continues to break up into small pieces, the contamination of fishery products by these small pieces of garbage poses a serious problem.

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Huge financial burden for cleaning up and disposing of the garbage

Municipal governments shoulder the fees for garbage washed ashore that is collected and disposed of in their municipalities.
In Japan, the volume of garbage washed ashore on the coasts of the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan is especially high. For isolated islands where the population is declining or aging, the collection of garbage is especially difficult. Since there are no treatment facilities on the islands, the cost for transporting garbage to the main island is a big burden.

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Marine accidents caused by large-sized garbage

The drifting of large-sized garbage may affect the navigation of vessels. If plastic bags are sucked up together with ocean water, they might cause engine trouble.

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Damage of fishing equipment by garbage