In Hundred Islands, you bring home your trash

ALAMINOS CITY, Philippines — The “Basura mo, iuwi mo (Your trash, bring it home)” project here is contributing well to maintain the cleanliness of the Hundred Islands National Park (HINP).

Mayor Arth Bryan Celeste, the youngest mayor in the Philippines, said during the Philippine Information Agency forum on Tuesday that they teach tourists at the islands to clean up their own trash.

“They say if you pick up someone else’s trash, you will pick up the rest of your life,” he said. “But if you teach the people to pick up their own trash, you don’t have to pick trash anymore.”

Under the project, a P200 group bond is required to be paid by visitors to the HINP, which is issued a  receipt and is refundable.

The group will be given two bags: one for biodegradable trash and the other for non-biodegradable that will be generated by each group of tourists during their picnic at HINP.

Once the visitor returns to the wharf or the mainland with his garbage in tow for proper disposal by employees of Alaminos Tourism Office, he gets back the P200 he deposited for the tour.

The group would then be given a gift certificate good for two persons for free entrance and waived environmental fee in their next HINP trip. The gift certificate does not have an expiry date.

With this, Celeste said tourists become their island rangers “because we imbibe in their consciousness the care for environment while they’re enjoying their HINP trip.”

He said the Hundred Islands aim for a litter-free national park.

The city placed second in the Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan national contest and one thing that stands out in all the programs that they are implementing is the “Basura mo, iuwi mo,” the mayor said.