(By Lou Ellen L. Antonio)
ILIGAN CITY (PIA) — To raise awareness and engage consumers to adopt and promote more sustainable practices, the Department of Trade and Industry – Iligan and Lanao del Norte spearheaded a coastal cleanup drive in Fuentes, Brgy. Maria Cristina, this city, Monday, March 15.
The City Environment Management Office, Office of City Councilor Petronilo Pardillo, as well as officials and residents of Brgy. Maria Cristina joined the activity in line with the celebration of World Consumer Rights Day.
Elvira Redublado, chief of the consumer protection division of DTI Iligan and Lanao del Norte, called for the participation of the public in the mitigation of plastic wastes.
“We encourage everyone to share in the advocacy of mitigating the plastic pollution crisis. According to environmental advocates, though plastic is highly useful in our everyday lives, consumption and production of single-use plastic have become unsustainable and causing negative environmental impacts,” she said.
Research says that 50% of plastics produced are single-use plastics (SUPs), 40% of which are from packaging and are discarded irresponsibly to the oceans.
With this, Redublado also encouraged the consumers to stop using or patronizing SUPs.
The team has collected 24 sacks of wastes weighing more or less 172.5 kilos of plastic bottles, sachets, bags; two sacks of glass bottles, five sacks of biodegradable waste, two sacks of special wastes. (LELA/PIA ICIC)
