Some 200 sacks of solid waste were collected during the coastal clean-up drive in Brgy. 23-C last Friday.
The coastal clean-up activity was held in accordance to the World Water Day or the “Davao Region: Walk on Waters.”It is a simultaneous activity in all the provinces in the region.
According to Alnulfo Alvarez, chief of the Environment Management and Enforcement Division of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) XI, there is problem when it comes to the waste management mindset of the informal settlers in the area.
“This is a big problem in the barangay since the informal settlers comprise two hundred families of Badjao community. If every household generates two kilos of garbage, every day they generate four hundred kilos of garbage, and they have problems with the disposal,” Alvarez said.
However, he explained that this large volume of solid waste were not all accumulated from the barangay, some were brought in by the tide.
Meanwhile, Barangay 23-C Chair Alimodin Usman Al Haj used to encourage settlers to collect garbage in exchange for one kilo of rice before but his strategy failed because it promoted a culture of laziness.
Usman said, with regards to the sanitation problem, the government has been consistent in reminding the residents to maintain cleanliness.
