When an Industrial Port Wins the Top Environmental Education Award

Sam Yu｜Environmental Education Manager at Hoping Industrial Port

"The success of environmental education in a place can be seen through the environmental practices of its employees."

- 2024 National Environmental Education Award Jury's comment on Hoping Industrial Port -

I am Sam Yu, an environmental education officer at TCC's Hoping Industrial Port. Before joining Hoping Industrial Port in 2022, I was a counseling committee member for environmental education facilities and venues at the Hualien County Environmental Protection Bureau. At that time, I was invited by the Environmental Protection Bureau to assist in the certification of Hoping Industrial Port’s environmental education facilities. As a native of Hualien, my impression of an industrial port was that it had a gray sky and an oily water surface. However, what I actually saw was a blue sea with clusters of coral and schools of tropical fish, completely contradicting my expectations. At that moment, I had a premonition that Hoping Industrial Port would undoubtedly become the best model for environmental education in the future.

Building a Home for Coral｜Hoping Industrial Port Ecological Block Coral Transplantation and Cultivation Project

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It took a year for the industrial port to obtain certification as an environmental education facility in 2022; two years later, it won first prize in the private enterprise category of the National Environmental Education Award. Such rapid development is faster than many other venues, and many people might mistakenly think that environmental education is just an ordinary corporate tour, showing visitors the coral within Hoping Industrial Port. However, the true meaning of environmental education remains unclear to many.

Internalizing Environmental Education

To promote environmental education, the most important thing is to start from within. Before obtaining certification as an environmental education facility, to build consensus, our General Manager of Hoping Industrial Port, Bing-Huang Zhuang, welcomed our Hoping Industrial Port colleagues and contractors as well as supervising officials from the Industrial Development Bureau to Yilan to experience the environmental education courses arranged by the Environmental Ethics Foundation of Taiwan. This experience planted the seeds of environmental education in the hearts of those working in the port. After obtaining certification, we arranged an annual one-hour environmental education course to deepen our colleagues’ and contractors’ understanding of environmental education. In addition, TCC’s headquarters launched the Sustainable Learning Passport for employees, immersing them in the atmosphere of environmental education.

Establishment of the Water Environment Patrol Team

In 2023, we were invited by the Water Pollution Control Division of the Hualien Environmental Protection Bureau to establish a water environment patrol team to protect the water environment around Hoping Industrial Port. Becoming a member of the water environment patrol team requires 12 hours of basic volunteer training and special volunteer training. More than ten members are needed for a patrol team, which is not an easy task for a company with fewer than 40 employees. Perhaps due to the subtle influence of past environmental education courses, the idea began to take root in the hearts of colleagues. 

 

During the first recruitment, more than ten colleagues volunteered to participate. After basic and special training, they officially established the Hoping Industrial Port Water Environment Patrol Team with the Hualien Environmental Protection Bureau in June 2023, becoming responsible for patrolling the northern breakwater of Hoping Industrial Port. Some colleagues had already worked at the port for a long time but had never set foot on the beach. When they stepped onto the soft sand, they were amazed by the beautiful scenery before them. In addition to cleaning up marine debris along the beach, they released the stress of the entire day by stepping onto the sand. The five major goals of environmental education—environmental awareness, environmental knowledge, value attitudes, action skills, and environmental action—were subtly achieved.
 

Participating in the National Environmental Education Award

The National Environmental Education Award is the highest honor in Taiwan's environmental education field. The entire competition process lasts a year, from writing and submitting a 30,000-word application form to passing local preliminary reviews, national re-reviews, and final reviews. During the review period, the attitude of Hoping Industrial Port colleagues toward environmental protection was highly praised by the committee members, who said, “The success of environmental education in a place can be seen through the environmental practices of its employees.”

Hoping Industrial Port's ability to win the crown among many well-known enterprises is something I proudly say was by no means a fluke.

Our Future

Winning the award is just the first milestone for Hoping Industrial Port. In the future, we will continue to protect our coastline and conserve marine species, extending species conservation to land areas, making “harmonious coexistence between industry and nature” a model for Taiwan. We also hope to spread our environmental education experience throughout the entire TCC Group Holdings so that, when people mention TCC employees in the future, it will be synonymous with being environmentally friendly.

AUTHOR

Sam Yu｜Environmental Education Manager at Hoping Industrial Port