June 8 is World Oceans Day (WOD), an event which the United Nations has celebrated since 1992. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) conducted simultaneous coastal cleanup activities nationwide to mark WOD 2023. Private groups also joined DENR in cleaning up portions of Manila Bay, including the Dolomite Beach.
According to the DENR press release, the combined trash collected during the cleanup reached almost 1,300 sacks, which consisted of single-use plastic bags, Styrofoam (polystyrene plastic), food packaging wastes, among others.
Millions of people all over the world do coastal cleanups. One of the biggest global events is the International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC) by the Ocean Conservancy. This event engages people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways. Since its beginning, more than 17 million volunteers have collected more than 158 million kilos (158,000 tons) of trash.
Many years back, we were invited by the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR to participate in cleaning up a portion of the Meycauayan–Marilao- Obando river system in Bulacan. This river was in the Blacksmith Institute’s "Dirty Thirty" list of the World's Worst Polluted Places for 2007. The place was like a floating dumpsite but the whole day cleanup managed to tidy up the area. The following day, the river was back to its former ugly state.
So much time, effort and money are spent on coastal cleanups. Does this activity make a difference? Considering that at least 14 million tons of plastic enter the ocean annually per the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the 1,300 sacks collected by the DENR last June 8 hardly made a dent in the global ocean trash pollution.
Some experts say that doing something is better than doing nothing. One plastic bag removed from the ocean is one less bag that will not end up in the bellies of marine animals, or one less plastic that will not break down into microplastics and end up in our food chain.
Laura Leiva, a marine biologist from the Alfred Wegener Institute, states that, besides the benefit of cleaning up the environment, the action of participating in a beach cleanup has the potential to change people’s minds and attitudes toward plastic trash. “It makes people think about plastic trash,” she says. “By changing the way they perceive it, we will make a difference”.
Coastal cleanups are also an important way to collect data of the type of trash that ends up in the ocean. With the right information, appropriate measures can be taken to address the problem. In the 2021 ICC report, food wrappers topped the list of collected trash, followed by cigarette butts, plastic beverage bottles, bottle caps, grocery bags, glass beverage bottles, beverage cans, straws and stirrers and plastic cups and plates.
Coastal or beach cleanups are ok, but they are not the ultimate solution to the problem. The best way to reduce ocean trash, especially plastics, would still be to stop the pollution at its source. The UN is currently working for the adoption next year of an international legally binding agreement to address the plastic waste problem.
Let’s do our part. Dispose trash properly. Better yet, avoid using single-use plastic.
