JUST how much do we know about trash traveling from the shores to the oceans?
Have we thought of the little trash we throw in the waters that if lumped together could clog our waterways?
One doesn’t have to go far. Cagayan de Oro dwellers have been seeing and experiencing wading into waters during urban flooding that results from the less than an hour of torrential rains here in the city.
With the unabated trash thrown all over world in small ways people can, some groups also have never ceased to do the opposite, picking up others’ trash and ensuring trash goes to its proper disposal, so everybody can live with the possible trash-free planet.
On September 20, 2014, the world held the 28th coastal cleanup day. Tracing back its roots along the Texas coast, Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup day started with a handful of volunteers in 1986.
According to Ocean Conservancy that for the past quarter century, volunteers have assembled through the International Coastal Cleanup to improve the condition of beaches and waterways and raise awareness about the trash problem.
“Now, ocean advocates worldwide are developing practical approaches that strengthen the science, promote sound policies and empower people to engage in action for trash free seas,” the Ocean Conservancy furthered.
In Misamis Oriental including Cagayan de Oro City, 880 participants from coastal cities and municipalities, organizations, local government units and establishments trooped to the beach in the early morning of September 20 last month to remove trash they could sweep.
In a partial data released by Macajalar Bay Development Alliance (MBDA) and Xavier University’s McKeough Marine Center (XU-MMC), a huge amount of plastic trash was collected from the shores of Misamis Oriental including Cagayan de Oro.
MBDA and XU-MMC are still collating the full account of trash collected in Macajalar Bay during the coastal cleanup.
In the shores of Tagoloan town, the top five-collected trash are plastic food wrappers by 16.96 percent; grocery plastic bags by 9.73 percent; toys by 6.78 percent; wood fragments by 6.64 percent and diapers and napkins by 5.90 percent.
Also, the top five trash found along the stretch of Macajalar Bay are grocery plastic bags by 9.18 percent; plastic food wrappers at 8.48 percent; cigarettes at 8.06 percent; plastic trash bags at 5.12 percent and cloth fragments at 4.62 percent.
In Barangay Taboc of Opol in Misamis Oriental, the top five trashes are plastic utensils, fastfood and lunchbox containers, grocery bags and tin cans of juice and processed food.
Barangay Taboc houses a stretch of beach resorts where people gather for picnics, which explains the large presence of plastic utensils and food containers.
MBDA and XU-MMC, the cleanup is a way to inform people that they should be careful about their trash.
“The figures show a large amount of trash even though our information is still partial. A total of 880 participants on record joined us in Macajalar Bay. Other barangays have conducted cleanup but didn’t submit yet accomplished data cards or attendance sheets. The cleanup is a good way to instill to our youth responsibility over their garbage,” Kristine Galarrita, one of the organizers, said.
The data gathered will assist the organizations and stakeholders in policy-making and development of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials to address the global problem on marine debris.
Last year, top 10 collected trash from the World Coastal Cleanup day included cigarette butts of over two million, food wrappers more than 1.5 million, plastic beverage bottles over 940,000, plastic bottle caps of more than 840,000 and straws and stirrers over 550,000.
The Philippines ranked 2nd with the highest collected trash among the 92 countries which participated in 2013.
While the participating countries collate and tally their trash finds this year, here are some key information that we need to know about trash and how it can be lessened if not wiped out in the years ahead.