International Coastal Cleanup Day

Before I left for the Philippines, I was doing a daily beach cleanup, and I found the Ocean Conservancy on the internet and learned about International Coastal Cleanup Day, held every year on the third weekend in September. The photograph on its web site was from Manila Bay! Coincidence? No! So I signed up.

Last week was tough though – I wasn’t sleeping well and at various points I thought I might be coming down with something; vitamin C, Airborne and herbal wellness formula seemed to do the trick, but despite the email mentioning that the cleanup was going to start early due to the tides, I decided not to wake up to an alarm clock. I knew from my previous trips to the bay that there would still be plenty of trash when I got there!

I got there later than I thought I would – between getting up late, walking to the MRT, waiting for the MRT, waiting for the LRT, and walking to the bay from the LRT, I got there much closer to the end of the allotted time than I thought I would. I don’t know how many people participated, but if there were a lot, most of them were gone. As was the shore – the water was up along the seawall. There were people standing in the water filling bags, there were kids playing in the water oblivious of or used to the trash, there were people on shore hauling trash up by the shovelful, and there was a lot of trash – mostly snack food wrappers and other plastic bags.

I decided that the best role for me would be to document things – so I took pictures and am posting them in various places. I did raise awareness and will continue to do so. I also did pick up trash this weekend – one bag for the island I was on, one bag for Manila Bay, and one for Mary’s site, since I didn’t have my rubber gloves with me for that trip (from now on I will bring them on all of my beach weekends!). I’ll discuss the rest of the weekend separately; for now, some more pictures from International Coastal Cleanup Day – Manila Bay.