<Anchor> In the

rainy summer season, the amount of trash that comes into the sea increases significantly. As of a year, the amount of marine debris reaches 140,000 tons, but the amount is so large that it cannot be handled by the local government's storage yard alone.

Reporter Park Chan-beom covered the scene.

<Reporter> This

is a collection site for marine debris operated by Geoje City, Gyeongnam.

Every day, more than 20 collectors bring trash back to the shore.

It is marine debris collected from all over the coast of Geoje this year.

There are a wide variety of garbage types, starting with plastic bottles, such as cans and plastics, but it has been piled up here for 8 months and weighs more than 600 tons.

Marine debris is usually burned.

Before going to the incinerator, it is collected in this intermediate drop-off, but the problem is that the capacity is insufficient compared to the accumulated garbage.

[Park Soo-hak/Collection Agent: It's summer, so it smells like mussels. Because it smells, customers demand that it be removed quickly... .]

Due to the lack of collection personnel, garbage collected by residents and accumulated on nearby roads may be left for more than a week.

[Kim Soon-deuk/town resident: If you contact us that the trash is now full, fill it up for 10 days and then take it... .] The

situation in the majority of islands, where there is no drop-off or incinerator, is more serious.

In order not to accumulate garbage, traces of illegally burning garbage by residents remain throughout the coast.

[Village residents: (Marine trash) was put in a bag, and the leftover was burned.] There

are only 11 land yards nationwide.

The government plans to build 40 new collection points in line with the enforcement of the Marine Waste Management Act in December.

Environmental groups say it is urgent to support equipment and personnel to collect garbage floating on the sea along with the expansion of storage facilities.

[Heo Seung-eun / Green Alliance activist: Even if the Marine Waste Act goes into effect, I think it will not be easy to improve this problem anymore without providing budget support to local governments or more support for collection personnel.]

Last year, more than 140,000 tons occurred. 25% of marine debris was not collected, but when it flows back to the sea, it becomes microplastic, causing environmental pollution.

(Video coverage: Yoo Hyeok, Video editing: Jang Hyeon-ki, CG: Um So-min)