On October 13, 2018, Toray and six Toray Group companies, in collaboration with the Arakawa Clean Aid Forum, an NPO, held the 5th Arakawa Clean Aid (Picking up and Researching Litter) along the riverbed of Arakawa River of Tokyo with the participation of its employees. A total of 24 people including employees and families from Toray, Toray International, Inc., Du Pont-Toray Co., Ltd., Soda Aromatic Co., Ltd., Suido Kiko Kaisha, Ltd., Suiki Technos, Ltd., and Toyo Business Support Inc. participated.
In its fifth year, time was set aside as usual prior to the activities for the environment lecture by the Arakawa Clean Aid’s Director. This year, under the theme of “Social Challenge: Pick up Garbage in the River and Sea to Transform the Future,” the participants reaffirmed the significance of the activities including the current situation of garbage in river and the impact on the earth’s environment and ecosystem. The organizers made the event interesting through creative means such as incorporating a quiz program, which enabled adults as well as children to learn about the issues in an enjoyable way.
After the lecture, the participants moved to the upper reaches of the river and formed teams of four people each and engaged in “Picking Up and Researching Litter.” This is not just picking up litter, but entering the details of the litter in the River Garbage Research Card and meticulously separating the garbage. The “Picking Up and Researching Litter” is carried out at the same place every year and this year the volume of garbage increased further with the group collecting the most number of plastic bottles ever at 527.
After picking up the garbage, a nature observation class was held under the theme of “Getting to Know the Biodiversity of Arakawa” and the participants learned the importance of preserving biodiversity by taking marsh crabs and young sea bass, etc. that live in the river.
Time was set aside after the activities for reviewing and the participants shared their views on the day’s event. Comments received include, “I could carry out the activity by researching and understanding the significance of the activity, instead of just routinely collecting garbage,” “Easier to take part with family as the format includes the nature observation class that even children can enjoy,” and “We would like other employees also to widely learn about the river garbage situation.”
[1] Clean Aid: A coined word for clean (cleaning up) and aid (help) which refers to picking up litter and enriching nature.
