Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Saturday, International Coastal Cleanup Day , hundreds of volunteers helped clean up the polluted Man...
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| Image: Reuters |
Volunteers and government workers, including hundreds of coast guard members, picked up sachets, rubber slippers, and other non-biodegradable trash that had washed up in Manila Bay, a 60 km (37 mile) semi-enclosed estuary that faces the South China Sea.
During the cleanup drive, 18-year-old college student Kendrick Lopez told Reuters, "This project will help make our coastal area in Manila Bay better so that tourists and visitors can see how beautiful the bay is."
Oil, grease, and trash from nearby homes and ports pollute the waters of Manila Bay, which is known for its beautiful sunsets.
With almost 36,300 km (22,555 miles) of coastline on more than 7,600 islands, the Philippines has a lot of marine resources.
A scientific online publication from the University of Oxford called Our World in Data released a report in April 2022 that said China was the world's biggest polluter when it came to putting plastic waste into the ocean. China was responsible for about a third of all plastic waste in the ocean.
Janet Panganiban, a 36-year-old volunteer, told Reuters, "We need to do these (cleanup drives) for our environment and to stop people from throwing trash on the beach."
Critics say that the laws about solid waste aren't good enough and aren't enforced well enough, which makes it hard for governments and communities to deal with the pollution crisis.
Every third Saturday in September is International Coastal Cleanup Day. Its goal is to bring attention to the growing trash problems along the world's coasts.
