450 volunteers clean PH coasts

The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) 2018 has mobilized various companies and organizations in the shared advocacy of the cleanup of bodies of water while fostering awareness on the global issue of marine debris.

The Philippines first joined the international initiative in 1994, making it the first organized coastal cleanup in the country. Now, 23 years later, the ICC remains to be one of the biggest movements on coastal conservation. This year’s theme, “Fighting for Trash Free Seas,” unites all sectors again in a nationwide cleanup in major coastlines. This vision is shared not only by the government and those who depend on the seas as their source of livelihood, but also by concerned citizens, the academe, non-government organizations and private organizations.

One of the groups that joined this effort and actively participated in ICC initiatives is the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability (Parms).

Over 450 volunteers from among Parms members participated in the coastal cleanup activity in four cleanup sites— Manila Bay, Batangas, Subic and Cebu. Aside from fielding volunteers, Parms also supplied a truck to take back the waste collected by its group for proper treatment and disposal.

“Parms adopts current available technologies to properly treat waste. These will lead to the production of items such as classroom resources, including school chairs, or plastic lumber with the technical expertise from the Philippine Plastics Industry Association and the academic community. In the long term, the collaboration will look into advanced technologies to extract materials for reuse into packaging towards a Circular Economy,” said Crispian Lao, Parms president.