Matsu Islands seek to return ocean waste to China

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) In 2023, about 890 metric tons of ocean waste -- mainly from China -- washed up on the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands, accounting for 15 percent of the islands' waste that year, some of which the local government is now looking to return.

Governed under Lienchiang County, the Matsu Islands are only 54 nautical miles from the Minjiang River estuary in the Chinese province of Fujian, from where a large amount of ocean waste has originated since around 30 years ago, Matsu residents said.

According to Lienchiang County's bureau of environmental resources, 888.5 metric tons of ocean waste was collected in 2023, including plastic bottles of Chinese drink products, accounted for 15 percent of the county's total waste of 6,092 metric tons.

Other than some degradable waste which can be sent to incinerators in Taiwan, part of the slowly degrading waste is kept in landfills across the Matsu Islands, bureau chief Chen Chung-yi (陳忠義) told CNA Wednesday.

Lee Chin-mei (李金梅), head of the Tieban community development association in Nangan Township, told CNA that it and similar local organizations have applied for subsidies from the county government to clean up beaches in their communities.

Local residents do up to eight beach cleanups a month on Tieben beach, Lee said.

According to Chen, county officials have visited Fujian to discuss the issue every year, and the county government will raise the issue again during a cross-Taiwan Strait economic and trade event in the Chinese city of Fuzhou in May.

The county hopes the recyclable part of the ocean waste can be sent back to China after it is preliminarily processed, Chen said.