A total of 60 sacks of garbage were collected from the beach cleanup and waste audit organized by NGOs Lipay Mundo Co., Plastic Warrior-Dumaguete, Scuba Ventures, and War on Waste-Negros Oriental in celebration of Zero-Waste Month.
The clean-up and waste audit held on Jan. 12 in the coast of Agan-an, Sibulan revealed that 95 percent of the sacks of garbage contained plastic, most of which were single-use plastics.
“Stop buying or using single-use plastic, and switch to alternatives,” Lipay Mundo Co. urged residents in Dumaguete.
“Our hope is that the clean-up and audit will open the eyes of many, if not all, that plastic, although not evil per se, does not belong to the earth. Let’s keep it out of the landfills and out of our ocean,” Lipay Mundo added.
The waste audit after the clean-up identified and analyzed the waste collected, and gathered data on how waste is being generated.
The audit recorded plastic wrappers and sachets as the No. 1 polluter, followed by plastic bags and thin small plastics.
The other sacks also contained Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) and cloth, among others.
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The results helped explain why microplastics have been found in samples of fish and clams obtained around Negros Oriental by researchers at the Negros Oriental State University and Silliman University.
The finding is also consistent with what was found in other local and global waste audits.
“We should be concerned with microplastics in our seafood, and its potential impacts on health,” according to WOW-Negros Oriental.
Over 200 volunteers from different organizations participated in the beach clean-up and waste audit, including members of the Philippine Coast Guard, students from different universities and organizations, and other NGOs who collected a total of 9,118 pieces of waste.
The beachclean-up and audit was sponsored by Suzuki Marine Philippines and GUD Motor Trading. (Merci Ferrer)
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