International Coastal Cleanup 2019

Paranaque City – With the observance of the annual celebration of the International Coastal Cleanup Day, CAVITEX and PEATC volunteered for the coastal cleanup activity held last September 21, 2019 at the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA).

Despite the gloomy weather, 70 volunteers from Volunteer Employees of South Tollways (VEST) and CAVITEX Advocates for the Restoration of Environment (CARE) joined forces at the last eco-tourism frontier in the Metro to pick up trash, each sorting out the trash by its kind, and then record it for data gathering purposes.

Items such as plastic bottles and food wrappers, cigarette butts, bottle caps and plastic bags were among the top items found in the coastline. All contingents from this year’s ICC hope that events like this will eventually lead to a trash-free community, wherein clean-up is no longer needed.

Held every third Saturday of September, the International Coastal Cleanup is an event spearheaded by the Ocean Conservancy group that aims to eliminate ocean trash. Since 1994, Philippines remain to be a top participating country in this global effort, recovering thousands of kilos of marine waste from its coastlines. During ICC events, volunteers are not only retrieving the waste from water bodies but are also asked to do a “waste audit” to tally the items found during the cleanup.