Cebu City government workers and volunteers collected a record 68,000 kilos of garbage from the city’s major waterways during the city’s quarterly clean-up drive on Saturday, September 18. | contributed photo by Cebu City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Almost 68,000 kilos of garbage were collected from Cebu City’s major waterways during the city’s quarterly coastal clean-up on September 18, 2021.
The Coastal Management Task Force (CMTF) reported 27,150 kilos of garbage collected in the southern barangays, 36,490 kilos in the northern barangays, and 4,300 kilos collected by the Department of Public Services (DPS).
The total weight of the garbage is 67,940 kilos or around 67.9 metric tons.
This is the biggest garbage haul in any of the city’s clean-up drives so far.
At least 40 percent of the garbage collected was plastic materials, 10 percent residuals, and 50 percent wood, plants, and mud.
“Most of our heavy equipment were deployed in Tejero and Carreta doing dredging so mao na daghang lapok,” said Reymarr Hijarra, the CMFT subcommittee chairperson.
Hijarra said at least 3,800 joined today’s clean-up drive including the international conservation group, Ocean Conservancy.
The volunteers conducted the clean-up in 21 areas including a leg of the Kamputhaw river near the Carreta Cemetery and Blessed Sacrament Parish area, the South Road Properties, the Tejero Creek, Lahug River, Guadalupe River, and others.
The quarterly clean-up is one of the programs of the city government to decongest the city’s major waterways from garbage. /rcg