DENR: Trash traps spare Manila Bay 30 tons of waste from Central Luzon

GARBAGE TRAPPING Trash traps devised by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are placed along the mouths of Central Luzon rivers so garbage will not reach Manila Bay. —PHOTO COURTESY OF DENR

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — Around 30 tons of solid waste have been caught by floating trash traps installed in rivers downstream of Central Luzon since early this year, preventing these from reaching Manila Bay, according to a top Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official.

The 50 traps are nets filled with plastic bottles, Styrofoam and other recyclables, stretching 30 to 100 meters, according to Paquito Moreno Jr., DENR regional executive director.

These line the rivers of Lamao, Orani, Orion, Pinulot, Pangulisanin, Amo, Aguawan, Almacen, Bilolo, Talisay, Mabuco and Samal in Bataan province and Guagua-Pasac in Pampanga province.

Reuse, reduce

The traps complement local cleanup activities by volunteers and trash collectors, and campaigns in communities to reuse, reduce and recycle waste. The nonrecyclables are brought to sanitary landfills.

Central Luzon produces an average of 5,598 tons of solid waste yearly, Moreno said, citing data from the Environmental Management Bureau.

In January 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the DENR to clean Manila Bay.

Bataan Rep. Jose Enrique Garcia III proposed the creation of the Manila Bay Development Authority to be “wholly dedicated to a singular, legal mandate: the rehabilitation, restoration and preservation of Manila Bay.”

Mr. Duterte ordered the cleanup although the Supreme Court issued on Dec. 18, 2008, a writ of continuing mandamus that directed 13 agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay.

—Tonette Orejas