How are silk scarves "shaped"? The reporter will take you to find out
Recently, at the press conference on the white paper "China's Marine Ecological and Environmental Protection" held by the State Council Information Office, a colorful silk scarf displayed by Guo Fang, Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment, attracted the attention of everyone present because the silk scarf was made of three plastic bottles recycled from the ocean, all of which were from the public welfare beach clearing operation in Guangzhou's Nansha District.
In order to understand the origin of the silk scarf and the story behind it, the reporter went to Nansha, Guangzhou to understand the situation.
Three discarded plastic bottles were made into a silk scarf
At the seaside of Tantou Village, Nansha District, lush mangroves surround the coastline like green ribbons on the sea. Ye Pan, secretary-general of the Guangzhou City Marine Dual Carbon Research Association, told reporters that this is the largest area of native mangrove forest in Guangzhou, and the raw materials for silk scarves come from here.
Nansha District is located on the west side of the Pearl River Estuary. Due to the influence of tidal power and other reasons, sea-floating garbage is often deposited here. When the tide is low, plastic bottles, garbage bags, foam boxes, etc. will be stuck in the mangrove forest. "This garbage will affect the growth of mangroves, so we regularly organize volunteers to carry out beach cleaning activities." Du Yuyan, deputy secretary-general of the Guangzhou City Marine Dual Carbon Research Association, told reporters that the Guangzhou City Marine Dual Carbon Research Association was established in 2021. Under the guidance and support of relevant departments, the research association participated in the ecological and environmental protection action of "Beautiful Nansha", and the public welfare beach clearing activity is one of these series of actions.
"When I first came here in 2022, there was still a lot of garbage, and I picked up a few sacks." Ye Pan recalled that the collected garbage was initially disposed of in accordance with the regular garbage disposal methods in Guangzhou City."As the activities continue, we are also considering whether there is a better way to achieve the realization of garbage disposal. Play a better role in publicity and education?"
After mutual understanding, comparison and inspection, the research society finally decided to sort out plastic waste and make silk scarves, and developed two themed silk scarves: "Beautiful Ocean" and "Protecting Mangrove Forests". What was displayed at the press conference of the State Council Information Office this time was the "Beautiful Ocean" themed silk scarf.
Volunteers collected plastic bottles and sent them to a recycling point for packaging, sent them to a professional factory, where they were crushed and cleaned, and then went through a series of processes such as pre-washing, high-temperature dipping, multiple rinses, winnowing, dehydration and automatic sorting machines to remove PET plastic bottles. Labels, dirt, bottle caps, impurities and glue in the sheet meet the recyclable quality standard. After several steps such as melting, extrusion, filtration, and granulation, polyester particles are formed; the particles are drawn at high temperatures into fibers and further regenerated into yarns; the yarns are transported to the textile factory, woven, printed and dyeing, and finally made into silk scarves
"About every three plastic bottles can be made into a silk scarf, reducing carbon emissions by 85.32 grams." Ye Pan said that silk scarves are currently mainly used as souvenirs and given to volunteers participating in public welfare activities to achieve a publicity role.
Ye Pan, Secretary-General of the Guangzhou City Ocean Dual Carbon Research Association, introduced the production and design concept of silk scarves
More volunteers participate in the beach clearing operation
On the hot summer day, a group of volunteers wearing volunteer uniforms, holding woven bags and pliers shuttled among the mangroves. They picked up garbage on the ground from time to time and carefully cleaned up the mangroves and beaches.
"I live in Nansha, and I feel very meaningful to clean up my home through such activities." Pan, who just finished the college entrance examination this year, has participated in beach clearing activities for the third time. He told reporters that his volunteer WeChat group has more than 200 people. The group publishes volunteer activities every week, and the quota is to be snatched."It is very obvious. The feeling is that there is less and less garbage now."
"Now many people come to the village every week, and we have also included the village volunteer team to protect the mangrove forest." Huang Jinhua, Secretary of the Party Branch of Tantou Village, said that with the subtle publicity, more ordinary villagers and young people have the awareness of protecting mangroves, and mangroves have become the golden signboard for Tantou Village to achieve rural ecological revitalization.
According to reports, starting in 2022, the research association has received support from the United Nations Development Program Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program to implement the "Mangrove Protection and Restoration Action in Tantou Village, Nansha District, Guangzhou" in Nansha District, Guangzhou City. So far, more than 50 public welfare actions such as mangrove science popularization, beach cleaning, instructor volunteer training, and theme exhibitions have been organized and carried out, with a total of more than 10000 participants (including visitors to the exhibition). Among them, more than 800 people participated in beach cleaning (mainly parent-child families, primary and secondary school students), more than 500kg of sea floating garbage were picked up (no garbage weighing records were made due to many small activities), and some of the collected plastic bottles were recycled and used to make themed silk scarves, and other garbage is treated and disposed of in accordance with the requirements of Guangzhou City Waste Disposal Standards.
Nansha is a typical estuary and coastal area. In recent years, Nansha District has controlled water and protected beaches, restored ecology, created a beautiful bay and ecological Nansha with harmony between people and the sea, playing a "Nansha Movement" that intertwined blue and green, livable and suitable for business. Mangrove beach cleaning activities are also a microcosm of it.
The Nansha Branch of the Guangzhou Ecological Environment Bureau adheres to the concept of coordinating land and sea and coordinating three waters to promote the management and protection of marine ecological environment in Nansha District, and has achieved remarkable results.Data shows that in the spring of this year, the inorganic nitrogen concentration at the national examination marine point (GDN01003) in Nansha District was 1.53 mg/liter, gradually reaching the provincial annual assessment requirement of less than 1.55 mg/liter.
Zhang Yuming, deputy director of the Marine Ecological Environment Division of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong Province, said that the "14th Five-Year Plan for Marine Ecological Environment Protection" divides Guangdong's coastal waters into 59 bays. In order to fully promote the protection and construction of beautiful bays, Guangdong's "One Bay, One Policy" collaborates to promote pollution prevention and control in coastal waters, ecological protection and restoration, and coastal and beach environment improvement, increases funding guarantees, carries out bay surveys, and compiles provincial-level beautiful bay protection and construction work guide. In the next step, Guangdong will combine the resource endowments and development positioning of the 59 bays, study and formulate an evaluation index system for the construction of beautiful bays in Guangdong Province based on the national beautiful bay construction indicators, prepare for provincial beautiful bay case evaluation and excellent case selection, enhance the enthusiasm of coastal cities to build beautiful bays, and make reserves for Guangdong to create a national-level "beautiful bay".
