Pasig River Pollution

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Not everywhere in this country. I watched a youtube video of one Island here and no trash anywhere as the small population learnt not to drop it. Also for example where I live it's rare to see trash probably because their are trash bins, not like in most places. When many gather in the park area the bins get full so they do use them.

Our neighborhood is not bad but now the latest litter problem is face masks!

[graham59]

2 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Not everywhere in this country. I watched a youtube video of one Island here and no trash anywhere as the small population learnt not to drop it. Also for example where I live it's rare to see trash probably because their are trash bins, not like in most places. When many gather in the park area the bins get full so they do use them.

Well, that's good to know. Hopefully it will catch on elsewhere. 

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

 Also for example where I live it's rare to see trash probably because their are trash bins, not like in most places. 

This is probably the single most important factor - even in shopping malls there are few (are there any?) trash bins.  That said, few people throw their trash on the floor in shopping malls so they do seem to know what is and isn't acceptable.  Outside, in our community we have the odd trash bin but they are always overflowing and seem not to be emptied often.  

[Tommy T.]

L told me that the common mind-set here in the PI is to drop or dispose of any trash or rubbish outside of the home, whether it be nice home, nipa hut or tent. Once it is outside the dwelling unit, it is forgotten.
 

That is the "common" mind-set. It is not hers nor her family's, but just how things generally work.

I admit that, when much younger, I used to throw trash - beer bottles and cans - when I was drinking underage with buddies in high school. Otherwise I did not. As I finally matured (sort-of) I figured it out and actually helped organize recycling programs in university. That ad with the Indian about keeping the country clean was a very powerful message to me also.

But I don't know if those messages or knowledge or learning will work here. L is a MAPEH teacher and taught her students about the dangers and disgusting nature of improper rubbish disposal. Her school even used to do periodic rubbish pick-up days around the school. Yet, she still reported to me that some students would eat their junk food or drink the bagged juice and toss the packaging along the way as they walked...

I will add here that we still have a local tricycle driver pick up our rubbish once a week. We place our loaded trash bin outside the gate along with a water hose for him to wash out the bin. We know that it goes to the highway where the trash truck picks it up on Friday mornings. We see small amounts of rubbish "appear" outside our home, but there is not much. Yet, when we have workers here, they toss rubbish across the road when we don't see them, rather than in the bags we provide... Got back to the first comments in this post....uggghhh.

I must add in one more comment... A couple of days ago I was weed-whacking around the outside of our property and, again for the umpteenth time, got some steel wire wrapped around the trimmer head. This has happened many times. Our construction workers simply dropped everything outside the fence and it was forgotten... I still come across cans, clothing, whatever...outside our fence. I am glad the workers are all gone now, so there is no more food rubbish around for the rats or others to eat...

Edited June 18, 2021 by Tommy T.

[Tommy T.]

I will also add in another comment:

When I was living on the yacht and stayed in American Samoa for a year, the anchorage was an incredibly beautiful place....except for the rubbish in the water.

Someone actually wrote an article in the local newspaper about all the rubbish that was coming from the foreign yachts anchored there.... hmmm. They cited the diapers (there were no yachts there with babies at that time) and other things. When the rains hit hard, all the rubbish piled up on the short rivers washed into the harbour. I could not run the engine without fear of fouling the intakes from all the rubbish that washed down...

[DaveB]

Trash, or the lack thereof, is a characteristic of various locales in the Philippines.  I started picking up on it without really thinking about it.  But I'd be some place, or see some new place on TV, and if there was no trash on the sidewalk, that fact would almost jump up right in my face.  For example...Kolebo is a  pretty trash free town...from what I can see so far, so is Balanga.  Some barangays here in Angeles City are very tidy.  It's all a matter of what the local culture goes with.  In the Provinces I see more trash randomly piled up because, frankly, where else is it gonna go?  But there's a difference between using the local trash pile and trash being every where, wherever someone drops something.   In the cities, and noticeably in the rivers that flow through them, flat surfaces, wet and dry, look like breeding grounds for pestilence - but there's a lot of really nice, clean rivers out there in the hinterlands.  I think it all harkens back to the day when the average Filipino didn't own much that wasn't bio-degradable  It's one thing to throw out a plastic bottle.  It's something else to through out a bamboo section that you were using for a cup.  The culture still seems to be still in a bit of transition on the topic.  By nature, Filipinos seem to be neat and tidy people, but they are also fanatically practical.  Trash is something you get rid of, any way you can, and you get on about trying to figure out how to get through the day.   Some "Maslow's hierarchy of needs" at work there.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Sometimes they organise clean ups. 

 

Cebu City to lead province-wide clean-up on Saturday

 

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Coastal Management Task Force (CMTF) will be leading a province-wide coastal and riverways clean-up on Saturday, June 19, 2021. 

According to Reymar Hijarra, the subcommittee chairperson of the CMTF, the participation of the Archdiocese of Cebu has increased the scope of the regular clean-up of Cebu City. 

“Ang mga parishes sa atong Archdiocese of Cebu moparticipate sila sa ilang areas as one Cebu island,” said Hijarra.

The clean-up will begin around 5:30 a.m. with a short launching at the South Road Properties (SRP) and will last approximately two to three hours simultaneously all over the province.

In Cebu City alone, there are at least 11 focus points including the Mahiga Creek near the Innodata, a portion of Kamputhaw River at Tinago-Tejero Bridge, a portion of Kamputhaw River near T. Padilla Market, Ermita Coast, Guadalupe River Mouth, Pasil Coast, and Sawang Calero portion of Guadalupe River near Pahina San Nicolas Barangay Hall.

Other areas include another portion of Guadalupe River near University of San Carlos (USC)-South in Sambag, a portion of Kamputhaw River at Sudlon Bridge, Arabal River at Kinalumsan Bridge in Mambaling, a portion of Kinalumsan River near Tisa Elementary School, South Road Properties (SRP) tower; and Il Corso coast.

Hijarra said they expect 2,000 to 3,000 volunteers from their partner groups and organizations. The number is limited to comply with health protocols set for Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) areas like Cebu.

The volunteers are asked to wear masks and face shields; bring gloves, sacks, rakes or shovels, and boots; and also bring water for hydration.

Volunteers are also asked to register as well so that they will be accounted for and no crowding will happen in the focus areas.

Heavy equipment will assist volunteers in waterways where the trash is considered the heaviest including the river mouths and downtown creeks.

A squad of divers will also be helping the city again by diving at the Mactan Channel along the SRP coast to get the trash and check the aquatic ecosystem in the area as they had in the past three coastal clean-ups.

Hijarra said the 4th coastal clean-up is also in line with Environment Day, which was celebrated on June 5, 2021, in hopes to remind the public to take care of the environment amid the ongoing pandemic.

The CMTF hopes that even those who did not register for the coastal clean-up would take the opportunity to clean up their surrounding canals and waterways. 

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/383173/cebu-city-to-lead-province-wide-clean-up-on-saturday

[Viking]

3 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Sometimes they organise clean ups. 

 

Cebu City to lead province-wide clean-up on Saturday

 

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Coastal Management Task Force (CMTF) will be leading a province-wide coastal and riverways clean-up on Saturday, June 19, 2021. 

According to Reymar Hijarra, the subcommittee chairperson of the CMTF, the participation of the Archdiocese of Cebu has increased the scope of the regular clean-up of Cebu City. 

“Ang mga parishes sa atong Archdiocese of Cebu moparticipate sila sa ilang areas as one Cebu island,” said Hijarra.

The clean-up will begin around 5:30 a.m. with a short launching at the South Road Properties (SRP) and will last approximately two to three hours simultaneously all over the province.

In Cebu City alone, there are at least 11 focus points including the Mahiga Creek near the Innodata, a portion of Kamputhaw River at Tinago-Tejero Bridge, a portion of Kamputhaw River near T. Padilla Market, Ermita Coast, Guadalupe River Mouth, Pasil Coast, and Sawang Calero portion of Guadalupe River near Pahina San Nicolas Barangay Hall.

Other areas include another portion of Guadalupe River near University of San Carlos (USC)-South in Sambag, a portion of Kamputhaw River at Sudlon Bridge, Arabal River at Kinalumsan Bridge in Mambaling, a portion of Kinalumsan River near Tisa Elementary School, South Road Properties (SRP) tower; and Il Corso coast.

Hijarra said they expect 2,000 to 3,000 volunteers from their partner groups and organizations. The number is limited to comply with health protocols set for Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) areas like Cebu.

The volunteers are asked to wear masks and face shields; bring gloves, sacks, rakes or shovels, and boots; and also bring water for hydration.

Volunteers are also asked to register as well so that they will be accounted for and no crowding will happen in the focus areas.

Heavy equipment will assist volunteers in waterways where the trash is considered the heaviest including the river mouths and downtown creeks.

A squad of divers will also be helping the city again by diving at the Mactan Channel along the SRP coast to get the trash and check the aquatic ecosystem in the area as they had in the past three coastal clean-ups.

Hijarra said the 4th coastal clean-up is also in line with Environment Day, which was celebrated on June 5, 2021, in hopes to remind the public to take care of the environment amid the ongoing pandemic.

The CMTF hopes that even those who did not register for the coastal clean-up would take the opportunity to clean up their surrounding canals and waterways. 

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/383173/cebu-city-to-lead-province-wide-clean-up-on-saturday

The only "problem" with these clean-ups is that they focus of the symptoms, instead of the disease. But I still think it is a good thing, and a way to make people aware of the problems.

[Mike J]

2 hours ago, Viking said:

The only "problem" with these clean-ups is that they focus of the symptoms, instead of the disease. But I still think it is a good thing, and a way to make people aware of the problems.

And they have to start somewhere.  I just hope it works out and they get some positive comments and publicity. 

[longway]

In Cebu City I was walking home with an empty coffee cup looking for a trash can. The Walk home was about 25 minutes. Never did spot one. I Just carried the cup home and deposited it in my trash can. Why no trash cans? Got to thinking about it and thought that if there were trash cans there would have to be a system to have them regularly emptied and the trash taken to a municipal sanitation dump site properly maintained ( no spillage into waterways). Since efficiency and systems are not strong in the Philippines this probably will never happen. Even if it was tried it would eventually be abandoned for lack of will. Public service education to correct the problem won't work if the support systems are not there. Plastic water bottle waste is Maybe the bulk of the plastic problem. How about providing potable water for the population. Yeah I know, It's expensive to do for everyone, but If every new High Rise over some height was required to provide Drinking water at every spigot in the place in order to get a building permit it's a start. Developers would start looking for solutions that might include partnerships with municipal governments.