TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A lack of shell casing catchers has led to criticism that Taiwan’s beaches are being littered with shell casings.

The Taiwan military has recently been carrying out shooting drills at beaches, requiring soldiers to manually pick up spent cartridges, as reported by Liberty Times. However, there has been a public reaction because of the environmental impact.

Shell casing catchers are often attached to small arms to catch shell casings. If not the spent bullets are ejected from the gun and fall on the ground.

This concern was addressed at a routine press conference held on Tuesday (Jan. 9) by Major General Liu Shen-mo (劉慎謨), the Ministry of Defense’s director of military training. He confirmed no shell casing catchers were being used and that training was based on considerations such as “field conditions, reality, practical exercises, and combat-oriented training.”

However, Liu’s comments did not pacify criticism of the no shell casing catchers policy on social media.

One veteran was quoted by Liberty Times as saying the U.S. military does use spent casings catchers in some situations. The veteran called for more clarity and better environmental protection.