However, most of these plastics cannot be or are not recycled, resulting in a lot of trash. The trash should then be picked up by waste management professionals, but many cities in the Philippines do not have regular garbage collectors.
Liwa is an ideal weekend getaway spot for people who live in Manila and Angeles City, but it's not one of the major tourist destinations. Even so, Liwa gets a fair number of tourists. These tourists bring more plastics and other harmful materials to the beaches and environment and sometimes they don't dispose of them responsibly either. And as the number of tourists increases, the amount of trash also increases.
The community members in Liwa meet their own needs in terms of keeping the area clean. The hostel that my friends and I stayed at had a program in place to collect plastic that an then be used for building purposes. Also, impressively,most of the restaurants in this town are strawless or offer reusable or paper straws. One of the three local restaurants refuses to offer takeout orders because of the disposable containers that would be necessary. As a result of these efforts, Liwa, I can honestly say, is one of the cleanest beaches/beach towns that I've been to. What they are doing seems to be working, at least for the number of tourists they get per year. As that number increases, I'm afraid their efforts might not be enough. What ideas do you have for keeping beaches and rivers clean?
