'Home of Blue' clears plastic waste and safeguards the health of ocean

Walking along the beachside, Dong Dailiang is busy picking up plastic garbage rather than sightseeing.

"I have to grab the bottles faster than others, or there's nothing left," said Dong, who lives in Daishan County in Zhoushan, a coastal city in east China's Zhejiang Province.

He is going to sell all collected plastics to a "Home of Blue" – a storage site for plastic waste. Here the plastics can be sold at 1.2 yuan ($0.17) per kilogram, a bit higher than the general garbage recycle station. Dong could make more money out of it.

As for now, there are 15 "Homes of Blue" established in Zhejiang, recycling all kinds of plastic products collected by villagers, volunteers and sailors from the beach and deep ocean. All plastics will then be sorted, compressed into blocks and sent to plastics processing plants, where the waste will be ground and remade into new products.

Blue Circle environmental initiative

The establishment of "Home of Blue" is part of the Blue Circle environmental initiative. This innovative marine plastic treatment model uses blockchain technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) to comprehensively monitor the entire lifecycle of plastic pollution, encompassing collection, regeneration, re-manufacturing and re-sale.

Since the initiative was promoted in 2020 in Zhejiang, over 230 enterprises, 10,180 ships, more than 6,300 people have participated in the collection of 10,936 tonnes of marine debris, including 2,254 plastic products, and 2,930 carbon emissions have been reduced, according to the provincial Department of Ecology and Environment.

Also, the initiative won the 2023 Champions of the Earth award, which is the most prestigious environmental recognition from the United Nations.

"This job just at my doorstep can not only raise my income, but also is meaningful," said Lin Yunqin, a plastic sorter at one of the "Homes of Blue."