THERE IS something unsettling about celebrating the removal of nearly four metric tons of garbage from a coastline.
The coastal cleanup in Oton, Iloilo over the weekend was unquestionably a worthy undertaking. A remarkable 1,157 volunteers descended on six coastal barangays and collected 403 sacks of waste weighing 3,760.8 kilograms, as reported by this paper yesterday. That was bayanihan in action.
But the 3.76 tons of garbage should not be counted as accomplishment of a cleanup. It should be counted as evidence of a failure that happened long before the volunteers arrived.
How did that much garbage reach the shoreline in the first place?
That is the question Iloilo must confront.
The cleanup covered barangays Trapiche, Poblacion South, Poblacion East, Alegre, Botong and Cabanban. In four of these villages alone, volunteers collected 217 sacks weighing 2,193.2 kilograms, consisting of plastic waste and other non-biodegradable materials. Those numbers should disturb us.
Much of the garbage originated somewhere upstream — from households, establishments, streets, drainage systems, rivers and communities where waste is improperly discarded, inadequately collected or allowed to escape into waterways. Once it reaches the sea, government and volunteers are already fighting the problem at its last stage.
This is why coastal cleanup drives, however admirable, cannot become our principal answer to marine pollution. We cannot spend one day mobilizing hundreds of people to collect garbage and spend the remaining 364 days allowing more waste to make its way toward the coast.
The more important battle must happen before the garbage reaches the shoreline. That means local governments must examine whether waste segregation is actually being practiced, whether garbage collection systems adequately cover communities, whether materials recovery facilities are functioning as intended, and whether laws and ordinances against littering and illegal dumping are being consistently enforced.
Barangays, particularly those traversed by waterways or situated along the coast, must also become the first line of defense. Creeks, canals and rivers must not be treated as convenient garbage conveyors that eventually dump society’s irresponsibility into the sea.
Businesses and households must carry their share of the burden as well. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources correctly emphasized another “R” beyond Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: responsibility. That may be the most important “R” of all.
Environmental responsibility cannot be something remembered only during International Coastal Cleanup Day. It is demonstrated by the household that properly segregates its waste, the establishment that reduces unnecessary plastics, the barangay that keeps its waterways clear, the municipality that provides an effective waste-management system, and the authorities that enforce environmental laws even when nobody is watching.
And there must be accountability. If the same coastal areas repeatedly yield enormous quantities of garbage every cleanup season, government should determine where the waste is coming from and why existing systems failed to prevent it from reaching the coast.
Success should eventually mean collecting less, not more. The ultimate objective of a coastal cleanup must be to make massive coastal cleanups increasingly unnecessary.
The 1,157 volunteers in Oton demonstrated what collective action can accomplish. But their effort should not become an annual rescue operation for society’s bad habits. Volunteers should complement a functioning waste-management system, not compensate for its weaknesses.
Those 403 sacks of garbage are therefore warnings.
Iloilo cannot clean its way out of marine pollution forever. It must stop the garbage before it reaches the sea.
