HUNDREDS of volunteers across Central Visayas, including the provinces of Negros Oriental and Siquijor have collected more than 1.3 metric tons of waste from rivers and waterways during the launching of World Environment Day on Thursday, June 5, 2025.
Much of the collected wastes were plastic as part of a regionwide cleanup drive led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in (DENR) 7.
DENR 7 Director Paquito Melicor Jr. during the Kapihan sa PIA on Wednesday, June 4 said the cleanup drive pushed forward the urgency in addressing plastic pollution. The theme for this year’s celebration was “End Global Plastic Pollution.”
Melicor urged the public to minimize the use of single-use plastics which make up majority of the plastic pollution in the country.
He called on communities to adopt zero-waste practices and to monitor local waterways even beyond the June 5 activities.
His advocacy includes the “Love Our Earth Program,” which encourages citizens to collect single-use plastics and place them in containers so that they can be brought to recycling facilities such as the one located in Toledo City.
The collected plastics are then transformed into bricks for pavements and hollow blocks.
Melicor, along with officials from the Environmental Management Bureau, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, and the Center for Research and Development on Coastal and Inland Wetlands shared their accomplishments and ongoing projects from January to April 2025.
The agencies highlighted key programs on reforestation, protected area conservation, air and water quality monitoring, solid waste management, and microplastics pollution control.
Lahug River
In Cebu City, 142 volunteers from national and local government agencies gathered along Lahug River and hauled 713 kilograms of waste in 111 sacks, mostly composed of plastic litter.
The effort, organized by the DENR 7, was part of the agency’s “Rivers for Life” campaign aimed at tackling plastic pollution at its source.
Other areas
In Negros Oriental, officials of the DENR City Environment and Natural Resources Office and local volunteers cleared 142 kilograms of trash from Tibyawan River in the town of Tayasan, rescuing a trapped Cerberus schneiderii (dog-faced water snake) in the process.
Another major cleanup at the Banica River in Dumaguete City saw broad participation from schools, national agencies and private firms.
The DENR 7 said the cleanup included a tree-planting activity of 500 miagos (Erythrina variegata) seedlings and the installation of a trash trap.
In Siquijor, 110 volunteers led by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) collected 201 kilograms of garbage from the Datag River, including construction debris and cigarette butts.
A similar initiative in Bohol gathered 51 kilograms of waste from the Abatan River, where 142 volunteers joined the cleanup organized by Penro and the Abatan River Development Management Council.
Aside from river cleanups, coastal cleanups have been scheduled by the DENR 7 in celebration of World Oceans Day and Coral Triangle Day on June 7 at the South Road Properties.
The DENR 7 will also conduct a maintenance activity at the tree planting area in Magsaysay Shrine, Balamban town; while on June 25, Philippine Arbor Day, a “Lakbay Tanong” tree planting event will be held in Camp 7, Minglanilla, Cebu. / EHP