The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) conducted simultaneous coastal cleanup activities nationwide on June 8 to mark World Oceans Day 2023 with the theme “Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing.”

DENR Secretary Antonia Loyzaga joined hundreds of volunteers in a mass cleanup drive along Manila Bay fronting the SM by the Bay in Pasay City to highlight the need for concerted effort to protect the oceans and marine life from threats, particularly plastic pollution.

At the same time, over 1,000 DENR employees from the central office, regional and field offices, bureaus, and partner organizations joined the cleanup in other areas of Manila Bay, including the Dolomite Beach, Mandamus Beach and Baseco area in Manila; Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism; and Tanza Marine Tree Park in Navotas City.

DENR regional offices also conducted cleanup drives on the same day in various coastal areas, including those in the cities of Batangas, Legazpi and Zamboanga.

The hours-long activity yielded 1,252 sacks of trash, consisting mostly of single-use plastic bags, styrofoam, and food packaging wastes such as plastic wrappers, straws, utensils, cans and sachets.

“We hope that activities such as this will help us in managing the quality of our oceans,” Loyzaga said.

Loyzaga added that the DENR considers plastic pollution and marine litter as critical issues.

“Our solid waste has reached our oceans. We need to combine this (coastal cleanup) with waste management on land so we can secure our oceans and our future here on land as well,” the DENR chief stated.

World Oceans Day is an annual event to celebrate the value of oceans, which cover over 70 percent of the planet but have been in dire need of help in the past few decades and are likely to deteriorate much further in coming years without decisive intervention.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, at least 14 million tons of plastic enter the ocean annually. It noted that 80 percent of all marine debris discovered in sediments from deep sea waters to surface waters is made up of plastic, making it the most prevalent sort of trash in the ocean.

To combat plastic pollution in the country, the DENR, under the leadership of Secretary Loyzaga, advocates for a circular economy where all plastic applications are reused, recycled, and responsibly managed during and after use while enabling a lower greenhouse gas emissions plastic economy.

World Oceans Day is celebrated annually on June 8 to raise awareness about the importance of the world’s oceans and efforts to improve them since 1992, following the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In 2008, the U.N. General Assembly decided that June 8 would be designated as “World Oceans Day” as of 2009.