Recently, the topic of "garbage everywhere on Xinjiang Duku Highway" has attracted the attention of netizens on the Internet. On July 24, the official WeChat account of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Department of Culture and Tourism published an article advocating that self-driving tourists should carry garbage bags with them and put the garbage into garbage bins or garbage stations along the way.

Many tourists who have traveled on the Duku Highway this year reported to The Paper that there are a lot of garbage such as food bags and plastic bottles in parking areas, rest stops and other places along the Duku Highway, and the problem of littering also exists in other popular scenic spots with garbage bins.

Some outdoor enthusiasts have called for people to follow the "leave not trace" principle while pursuing natural beauty and try to take away all the garbage generated during the journey.

Practitioners said that the number of tourists increased by about 30% this year, and the garbage problem was particularly prominent

On July 25, Ms. He, a tourist from Chongqing, told reporters that she drove through the Duku Highway in mid-July and stayed nearby for about 3 days. During the trip, she noticed that there was a lot of garbage left at the viewing platforms, highway stops, and popular scenic spots along the Duku Highway. "Most of it was food waste, especially after a group of people stopped, they left bags of garbage without taking it away. The discarded food inside was rotten."

Ms. He said that she did not see any sanitation workers on the Duku Highway, and there were no trash cans for tourists to throw away their garbage on the highway, so the awareness of tourists is actually very important. During the trip, she usually drove the garbage to the trash cans in the scenic area, or handed it over to individual shops along the route for disposal. Generally speaking, you can encounter a shop for throwing garbage every 2 to 3 hours of driving.

"The scenery in northern Xinjiang is very pure and rich, with mountains, rivers, and lakes along the way. These garbage really destroys the scenery." Ms. He couldn't stand it, so she started to volunteer to pick up garbage along the way, picking up one or two garbage bags a day. Some people expressed confusion and told her, "Don't pick up more if you can't pick up all the garbage." Some passing tourists also expressed their approval of this move.

At the end of June, Xiao Li, a college student studying in Urumqi, chartered a car with her companions to travel in Xinjiang. She also noticed a similar situation. Xiao Li said that when passing through the Duku Highway, there were not as many tourists as reported in the news later, and there was no traffic jam, but she had seen garbage piled up in many ditches on the roadside.

It's not just the Duku Highway. When Xiao Li was playing in Sailimu Lake, she also noticed that there was a problem of littering in the scenic area. At the lakeside, she saw plastic bottles floating on the clear lake surface. "Because this lake is really clean, I can see things that don't belong to this lake at a glance by the lake. I immediately picked them up and threw them away, and I felt better." Xiao Li said, "Sailimu Lake is also a relatively commercial scenic spot, and there are trash cans at many viewing points."

On July 25, a staff member of a cycling station along the Duku Highway told The Paper that this year, there are indeed more tourists to Xinjiang than in the previous two years, an increase of about 30% to 40%. Summer is the peak season for tourism in Xinjiang. Since June this year, there has been a lot of garbage on the Duku Highway. "It has happened before, but this year the problem is particularly serious. Today I saw pieces of paper and other things stuck to the ground. It's windy here, so the garbage would fly away if it could," he said.

The above-mentioned staff member said that there are many herdsmen near the Duku Highway, and the garbage will have an impact on the herdsmen's cattle and sheep, which can easily lead to death if eaten by cattle and sheep.

According to media reports, in July 2021, He Jiaolong, deputy director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Ili Prefecture, Xinjiang, said in a live broadcast room that the amount of garbage on the Duku Highway is very large, and many staff members need to pick up garbage for about 20 hours a day. A monthly salary of 5,000 yuan cannot recruit a cleaner on the Duku Highway.

On July 24, the official WeChat account of the Xinjiang Culture and Tourism Department issued an appeal: Please don't let the Duku Highway become a garbage dump. The article also mentioned that in addition to the Duku Highway becoming a "severely affected area" covered with garbage, Tiantang Lake on the Wusun Ancient Road, Qiongkushitai Village and other places are also facing similar situations.

According to netizens, Tiantang Lake on the Wusun Ancient Road in Tekes County, Yili Prefecture, Xinjiang, is also full of garbage. The head of the Tekes County Cultural and Tourism Bureau said in an interview with the media that Tiantang Lake is an undeveloped scenic spot. There are helicopters flying to Tiantang Lake every day to bring out the garbage. In addition, the local area will also remind the leader of the hikers and herdsmen who lead the team into the mountains not to let tourists litter.

Outdoor enthusiasts are reminded to follow the principle of "no trace of mountains and forests"

Mr. Liu, a hiking enthusiast with 7 years of outdoor experience, told The Paper that similar garbage accumulation is not only in Xinjiang. Mr. Liu said that he had walked many hiking routes in China, and plastic garbage is very common on each hiking route.

Mr. Liu introduced that when camping in some camps, local herdsmen will come to collect garbage collection fees, and then the garbage will be burned by local herdsmen. He once paid 100 yuan per person on a hiking route in western Sichuan. He said, "I feel that this method is not good. It will make tourists develop the habit of throwing garbage as a matter of course, and the local herdsmen use the method of burning garbage to deal with it (which is not good either). If you can take it out, it may be handled more professionally."

Several outdoor enthusiasts pointed out to the reporter of The Paper that tourists should follow the "leave not race" principle when traveling outdoors, such as properly disposing of garbage, respecting wild animals, and not taking items from nature as souvenirs.

In June this year, Mr. Liu participated in a garbage cleaning activity organized by hiking enthusiasts. More than 200 hiking enthusiasts worked together to pick up nearly 1,200 kilograms of garbage from the Baoka Lake Scenic Area in Nanjing.

Mr. Liu reminded that tourists who travel and camp should take away all the garbage when conditions permit, especially non-degradable garbage, such as plastic packaging bags. Under special circumstances, if degradable garbage such as fruit peels and vegetable leaves need to be disposed of on site, they can be buried away from water sources.

The appeal article published on the official WeChat account of the Xinjiang Culture and Tourism Department also advocates that self-driving tourists bring garbage bags with them and put the garbage in garbage bins or garbage stations along the way. Do not stop at random during self-driving, and park in the direction of the arrow in the designated parking space. Try to bring your own water cup and environmentally friendly bag when traveling to reduce the discarding and pollution of beverage bottles and plastic bags. Do not litter near water sources and pasture areas to prevent cattle and sheep from accidentally eating garbage and endangering their lives.

Plastic Industry Video