Lapu-Lapu City joins int'l coastal cleanup

CEBU, Philippines - At least 20 kilos of various types of waste was collected by more than 100 volunteers in last Saturday's coastal cleanup in the beach area of sitio Saac, barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City.

The event was part of Our Islands Foundation's "Zero Waste in Seas" project.

"Zero Waste in Seas" project is Our Islands Foundation's (OIF) participation to the observance of the International Coastal Cleanup, a global movement to clean up our ocean from marine debris, held every September," said Chai Apale, executive director of Our Islands Foundation, a non-profit organization of The Islands Group.

This is the third year that OIF has joined the international coastal cleanup, now on its 25th year.

Apale said this year's activity is not just about cleaning up oceans, but also promoting "awareness and imparting knowledge" to the participants and the community, regarding the need to take care of our marine resources.

She explained that the process is that they collect, record and analyze the data of the trash; and information gathered from it will be submitted to Ocean Conservancy to be a part of the worldwide record, so institutions and organizations "can use it to make informed policy decisions, and for the community to effectively shape and expand their recycling and waste reduction programs."

According to Mario S. Marababol, Ocean Care Advocates, Inc. administrator, said there is a need for a cleanup because of the "increasing presence of marine debris" combined with physical, ecological, cultural and socio-economic problems which "poses a real threat to the sustainability of our coastal habitats as well as the health and well being of man."

The coastal cleanup started in 1986 at Texas with 2,800 volunteers that gathered 7,900 trash bags of 124 tons of marine debris for 122 miles stretch of shoreline. This was then adapted and promoted by United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) to 70 regional seas in the world every third Saturday of September.