Philippine diving town swaps trash for rice to clean up its beaches

Philippine diving town swaps trash for rice to clean up its beaches
Philippine diving town swaps trash for rice to clean up its beaches

In a diving location in the Philippines, green activists have proposed to transfer a bag of grain for every bag of trash that local residents have collected.

Although Mabini in Batangas state is known for its lively reefs and marine wildlife, a rising flood of plastic waste poses a growing threat to marine animals like sea turtles, according to voluntary Giulio Endaya.

According to Endaya,” the fish have plastic that have been broken down in the shore, as well as straws and vinyl bags.”

But since the grain- for- garbage programme began nearly two years earlier, more than 4.3 metric tons of plastic spend have been collected, he added.

In change, 2.6 tons of rice have been distributed. The grain is distributed in 1 kg bags, enough to satisfy a little family’s daily needs.

The program, which also assists low-income families in lowering their meal bills after a sharp increase in rice prices in recent years, is funded by private donors and small businesses.

” In a fortnight I need four- and- a- third sacks of rice, then all I have to purchase is two sacks, which is a great help”, native Janeth Acevedo, 46, said as she sorted through the trash that she had gathered.

According to an updated April 2022 report from the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data project, the Philippines accounts for 36 % of the global plastic waste in the ocean.