COASTAL CLEAN-UP. Volunteers go beyond picking up trash and record each item collected on a standardized data form in order to identify ways to eliminate ocean trash in the future.
Report by Mitzi Rose Godmalin
Photos supplied by XU Junior High School
Presidential Proclamation No. 470 declares the 3rd Sunday of September of each year as the International Coastal Clean-Up (ICC) Day in observance of the Global Coastal Clean-up celebrations.
Xavier Ateneo Junior High School supports this planet-saving campaign annually. For this year, the school sent 74 volunteers from the Science Club, SHAPE, 4H Ugmad, Kilos Atenista, Sea Scouts, faculty, and the school administration.
The ICC addresses the challenges flagged by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The underlying message of the beach clean-up campaign was to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development, as stated in SDG 14.
This initiative was also a reflection of the importance of working together in the interest of calling for urgent climate action and combatting climate change and its impacts, as echoed in SDG 13.
The clean-up location was held in the 1.2km coastal stretch from Baybayon to Marvilla. The total items collected by the XUJHS team summed up to 2,726, with cigarette butts (data of 590) being the most numerous among the trash collected.
This campaign was made possible through the partnership of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resource Office (MENRO), Macajalar Bay Development Alliance (MBDA), Xavier University McKeough Marine Center, and Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan.∎
COASTAL CLEAN-UP. Volunteers go beyond picking up trash and record each item collected on a standardized data form in order to identify ways to eliminate ocean trash in the future.
RECORD OF TRASH. Here's the summarized data information of the XUJHS collection, showing the top 5 items collected.