Abstract
The shore and coastal environment is polluted by the transfer and disposal of marine litter. Adverse effects on the ecosystem and on human life are felt in the remote islands and regions in Okinawa, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, and Nagasaki prefectures. Depopulation and aging continues in these areas. Therefore, it is important to devise an energy- and labor-efficient disposal system to collect, transport, dispose or process marine litter. The amount of expanded polystyrene washed ashore is enormous, which creates waste transport problems.
On the other hand, an adequate energy supply is necessary when collected debris is recycled on site. Since most of these remote islands and regions have no power supply, the use of natural renewable energy as power source was considered. Based on the foregoing discussion, the author examined the energy and labor savings in the transportation and recycling processes of a marine litter disposal system.
