DENR to lead Int’l Coastal Cleanup Day

MANILA, Philippines - The world’s biggest coastal cleanup, known as the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day, will be held on Sept. 21, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) announced yesterday.

The DENR, along with the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary, will lead the coastal cleanup, with Roxas Boulevard in Manila and the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area as the main focal points.

Based on the yearly reports of the Washington-based Ocean Conservancy, the volume of ocean trash recorded by volunteers from the Philippines has doubled every year during the last three years.

The reports stated that in 2010, more than 145,000 Filipino volunteers picked up a total of 240,360 kilos of trash. In 2011, some 114,418 volunteers recorded 485,091 kilos, while in 2012, almost 144,000 people retrieved more than 1.3 million kilos.

“As you can see, the number of registered volunteers has more or less remained the same, but the amount of trash they picked up in just one day has doubled alarmingly. It means more trash is making its way into our waters,” DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said.

He urged the public to be mindful of where they throw their trash and not to depend on having others to clean the beaches and waterways.

“We should remember that clean waters and oceans also mean a healthier environment for our coastal and marine resources, which we heavily depend on for food,” the DENR chief said.