Phl tops participation in international coastal cleanups

The Philippines ranks first among the top 25 countries that participated in International Coastal Cleanup activities around the globe, according to the Ocean Conservancy 2018 Report.

Over 200,000 volunteers from the country joined the International Coastal Cleanup in 2017 gathering more than 230,000 kilograms of trash from beaches and waterways equivalent to over 1,200 kilometers.

In 2017, environmental group Haribon Foundation collected at least 83 sacks of Styrofoam waste and 85 sacks of rubber and cloth waste (shoes, slippers, bags) and 57 sacks of plastic waste (utensils, straws, plastic bags, wrappers, diapers, bottles).

Almost five million pieces of tiny trash were collected from the world’s oceans in 2017. Globally, cigarette butts remain to top the world’s coastal trash, increasing in number from 1.8 million pieces in 2016 to over 2.4 million in 2017.

On average, cigarette butts take at least 10 years to rot while plastic products will need five centuries to a thousand years to decompose.

In the Philippines, nearly one million food wrappers were found on shorelines last year, making it the most common coastal trash in the country today. Other items in the list were plastic grocery bags, straws, stirrers and takeaway containers.

“Larger items tend to break into smaller pieces called microplastics until they become small enough for many wildlife to mistake them for food,” said Haribon Foundation.

According to the foundation, bits of plastics are commonly mistaken for food which kills turtles, birds and fish.

“It is with great concern that many of the fish that we now eat also contain plastic and the toxins that accumulate with them.”

Many of the smaller wastes are either thrown out to shore or end up in sewer drains on the streets, which lead to different bodies of water.

September being National Cleanup Month, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources invited organizations and individuals to join thousands of volunteers in the International Coastal Cleanup last weekend.