DENR lauds youth group for hosting clean-up drive at Freedom Island

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-National Capital Region (DENR-NCR) on Wednesday lauded a youth environment group for hosting a coastal clean-up activity at Freedom Island inside the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism on Saturday.

In a Facebook post, the DENR-NCR said members of Wavefarers are “mature beyond their years,” which shows in their effort to address the problems of ocean trash and plastic pollution.

“Young as their members are, their actions prove that they are mature beyond their years as, this early, they recognize the important role they play in addressing the issue of ocean trash and plastic pollution…Cheers to the Wavefarers!” the post noted.

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Freedom Island, which was declared as critical habitat in 2007, is the remaining mangrove frontier in Metro Manila and serves as a sanctuary for more than 80 species of birds.

After the clean-up drive, the Wavefarers said they collected a total of 38 sacks of plastic, 40 sacks of styrofoam, 20 sacks of rubber, and two sacks of PET bottles.

“Wavefarers would like to thank all the volunteers for making it all the way out to Freedom Island to join our first ever coastal clean-up and [for] making the event a successful one…We are slowly freeing the island from piles of trash and are on our way to restoring its natural beauty!” the group said in a Facebook post.

Although the group believes that clean-ups are not permanent solutions to water and land pollution, they are “enough to make big positive changes for the clean-up site and its inhabitants.”

The group also vowed to continue organizing similar events in the future.

The Philippines is said to be one of the world’s worst plastic polluters of oceans. According to environment group Greenpeace, an equivalent of one truckload of plastic end up at sea every minute. /ee