World Vision Development Foundation, Inc. supports the global Earth Day celebration by mobilizing groups to participate in a river Clean-Up initiative.
With the aim of protecting our planet from plastic pollution, World Vision joins civil society organization Kutawato Greenland Initiatives, Inc. and its members for the Kutawato Multi-Stakeholders Platform Clean-Up Drive in Rio Grande de Mindanao, Tamontaka River, Illana Bay and Moro Gulf on April 23, 2024.
“We mobilized our team and covered barangays here in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to participate in this event through a community-wide clean-up drive. We hope that aside from collecting and diverting some of the plastic wastes that were thrown in our rivers, this endeavor will also create awareness on our responsibility towards the planet,” said Renato Salas of World Vision’s office in Cotabato City, located in Mindanao, south of the Philippines.
The event which simultaneously happened in selected areas in Lanao and island provinces was participated in by government agencies, non-government organizations, security sectors, private and business sectors, youth organizations, media, farmers and fisherfolks associations.
In Cotabato City, over 400 kilograms of plastic bottles, plastic appliances, wrappers, sachets, and residuals were collected from 13 sites in the city.
“With the scale of waste that are now present in the environment, the solution would entail a collaborative effort among all stakeholders in the community especially our future generation, the children,” added Salas, who also manages the child-focus organization’s Integrated Solid Waste Management – Circular Economy Adaptation for Alternative Plastic Waste Solution.
The said Solid Waste Management project is funded by European Union and co-funded by World Vision Germany. It intends to contribute to improved Solid Waste Management (SWM) capacities of local government units, civil society organizations, and informal sectors by integrating best practices of circular economy in Cotabato City.
He shared that “One of our main objectives for the Integrated Solid Waste Management – Circular Economy Adaptation for Alternative Plastic Waste Solution is to be able to divert waste especially plastics from ending into dumpsites but instead redirecting it back to economy thru recycling or other circular economy models.”
A Call for Reducing Plastic Waste and Waste Diversion
Salas explained that the issue on solid waste is global concern which entails multi-stakeholder approach.
“With our project, we intend to involve various local stakeholders from the government agencies that are directly related environment like Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy and City Environment & Natural Resources Office, and even those government agencies that are mandated to ensure that local policies are present like Ministry of the Interior and Local Government and Commission on Audit,” shared Salas while adding in the list “businesses that contribute to generation waste, academes or schools that are tasked to educate children and youth, community members and households who are usually the end-users of products responsible for the first level of waste segregation.”
As of December 2023, the Solid Waste Management– Circular Economy Adaptation for Alternative Plastic Waste Solution project as achieved the following milestones:
● Established of strong working relationship with City Environment and Natural Resources Office;
● Supported Barangays in establishing a new set of Barangay Ecological Solid Waste Management Committees;
● Capacitated local Solid Waste Management structures or mechanisms by providing them with tools and equipment to enhance their capacity to properly process their solid waste;
● Increased the awareness of the local leaders in terms of knowledge on the policies that governs Solid Waste Management – Republic Act 9003 or otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
With reports from Roxanne Angelika S. Dela Cruz, World Vision’s Field & Emergency Communications Specialist
For more information, contact Shirley “Lei” Kimmayong, World Vision Communications Manager at 09499964619 or email at lei_kimmayong@wvi.org.
About World Vision
For more than 65 years in the Philippines, the child-focused organization has worked with partners to achieve hope, joy and justice for all children through programs on health and nutrition, education, including values formation and spiritual nurture, child protection and participation, savings and livelihood, disaster preparedness and emergency response.
The Solid Waste Management– Circular Economy Adaptation for Alternative Plastic Waste Solution project is part of the larger effort of World Vision in the Philippines to serve the most vulnerable children and families in fragile context.
With children at the center of development, World Vision brings programs that support peace building, education, child protection and participation, and disaster risk reduction and management to Marawi City, and Cotabato City, and to the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
