98.5% of trash covering the Ramsar registered Janghang Wetland found to be plastic

[Anchor]

The Janghang Wetland at the Han River estuary, which is a migratory bird habitat, has been registered as a Ramsar wetland due to its high ecological value.

However, this Janghang Wetland is suffering from discarded plastic waste from the metropolitan area.

Reporter Lee Seung-cheol has the story.

[Report]

The Janghang Wetland at the Han River estuary was created where river water meets seawater.

It is the largest willow grove in the country and was registered as a Ramsar wetland in 2021, but the symbiotic mud crab is feeding on piles of styrofoam instead of in the willow forest.

This footage was captured by Greenpeace in August and has been released now.

[Choi Hye-won/Researcher/Greenpeace East Asia/Planning Officer: "I remember the filming team and the research team were all heartbroken seeing herons surrounded by piles of plastic and ducks swimming in polluted water, as well as mud crabs presumed to be eating pieces of plastic styrofoam."]

Greenpeace used drones to capture footage of seven locations along the 8 km Janghang Wetland where trash is heavily concentrated, covering a 180m stretch.

Approximately 4,000 pieces of trash were discovered, and after classification using AI and visual verification, the plastic ratio was found to be 98.5%.

[Lee Jong-soo/Lead Researcher/East Asia Ocean Community/Analysis Officer: "The most commonly found trash was styrofoam packaging, which accounted for 82%, while plastic bottles made up 15%. This shows that single-use items are very high."]

The per capita plastic waste generation in South Korea was 90 kg as of 2021, ranking second among OECD member countries.

The number of single-use plastics consumed per person in a year reached over 1,300 as of 2020.

The entire life cycle of plastic causes massive pollution, from production to consumption and disposal.

Environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, are calling for a phasing-out approach of single-use items, starting with reductions in plastic production.

This is KBS News, Lee Seung-cheol.