Plastic products account for over 65% of the man-made garbage that washed ashore all around Japan, according to a recently released Environment Ministry survey conducted in fiscal 2018.
The ministry carried out the survey at 10 coastal sites from Hokkaido in the north to Kagoshima Prefecture in the south. Man-made materials comprised more than 90% of garbage that washed ashore at seven points, including Iwanai (Hokkaido), Iwaki (Fukushima Prefecture), Futtsu (Chiba Prefecture) and Matsue (Shimane Prefecture).
Plastic accounted for the overwhelming majority of the man-made materials: 97% in Matsue, 92% in Iwaki and 91% in Tokyo's Hachijo and Miyazaki Prefecture's Nichinan.
The ministry also checked the labels of plastic bottles to determine country of origin. Among those that were decipherable, more than 60% found in Matsue and Hachijo had writing in Chinese or other foreign languages.
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