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| POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, fifth from left, collects waste with the members of the POSCO Clean Ocean Volunteer Group near Baealdo Beach in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, Friday. Courtesy of POSCO |
By Nam Hyun-woo
Steelmaker POSCO is increasing its environmental sustainability activities to preserve the seas, as part of efforts to exercise its philosophy of corporate citizenship.
According to POSCO, Sunday, Chairman Choi Jeong-woo and 30 members of the POSCO Clean Ocean Volunteer Group removed about 1 ton of marine waste including plastic bottles, nets and tires off a port near Baealdo Beach in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, Friday.
They also removed a large number of predatory starfish, as their excessive breeding damages the local marine environment, and released 100,000 black porgy fingerlings to boost resources for local fisheries.
Along with the group, separate POSCO volunteer groups established a number of solar-powered welfare facilities in towns near the beach, as well as planting trees around them.
"Preserving ocean lives and the maritime ecosystem is in line with POSCO's corporate citizenship philosophy, under which the company and society thrive together," Choi said.
The activities were also participated in by South Jeolla Provincial Assembly Speaker Lee Yong-jae, Gwangyang City Council Chairman Kim Seong-hee and a number of local fishing cooperative leaders.
POSCO Clean Ocean Volunteer Group was formed in 2009 with a membership of 150 employees in Seoul, Gwangyang and Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. For the past 10 years, its members have performed 560 underwater dives and removed 1,710 tons of marine waste.
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| Seen above is an artificial reef established in waters off Ulleung Island as part of POSCO's project to set up an underwater forest near the island. The artificial reef is seeded using POSCO's steel slag byproducts. Courtesy of POSCO |
POSCO has conducted several volunteer maritime environmental activities recently.
On May 16 and 17, the steelmaker installed 100 artificial reefs and 750 reef blocks in waters off Ulleung Island in the East Sea to create the seeds of an underwater forest.
The reefs are using steel slag byproducts, which contain iron, and calcium and other mineral and thus can be helpful for marine plants' photosynthesis. Since the slag does not use steel reinforcing bars, it is also highly resistant to saltwater corrosion.
In the project, POSCO laid the foundations for a 0.4 hectare underwater forest, centered on a mountain of 750 reef blocks with 100 larger blocks surrounding it. It will eventually serve as a shelter for fish and other marine life while future reefs will nurture a forest of marine plants.
POSCO first started creating artificial reefs from on steel byproducts in 2000, and has supplied 6,559 artifacts for the eventual creation of 30 underwater forests around the peninsula.
