DENR acquires 4 boats to collect floating garbage in Manila Bay, waterways

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has acquired four new trash boats to collect floating garbage along Manila Bay and its tributaries. DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said they are planning to acquire 20 more such boats, which he said is part of the government's cleanup efforts. “The trash boats are DENR’s way of assisting LGUs in two ways: cleaning up the waterways in their areas of jurisdiction and ensuring the implementation of solid waste management, as they are mandated to do so,” he said in a news release posted on the Official Gazette website. Paje said the trash boats will be deployed to some areas in Central Luzon; and in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon and Metro Manila. He said the boats will be used in the cleanup of coastal and inland waterways and river systems draining into Manila Bay. Presently, the four boats initially purchased are docked at the Manila Yacht Club compound along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. Each costs P1.733 million. They will be turned over separately to Malabon and Manila, to Obando in Bulacan province, and to Cavite. DENR Manila Bay Coordinating Office Director Noel Gaerlan said the recipients of the 20 additional units are still to be determined. The 30-foot trash boats are semi-mechanized, with a rake-like device that can scoop up to three tons of floating garbage and debris. Collected trash will be dumped onto the boat’s deck and manually segregated into marked sorting bins that can easily be unloaded to garbage collection trucks. Trash skimmer Gaerlan said the DENR is also planning to purchase a “trash skimmer” that will be used to collect trash in Manila Bay. The cleanup of Manila Bay was ordered by the Supreme Court through a decision dated December 18, 2008. In the “writ of continuing mandamus,” the SC tasked 13 government agencies, including the DENR, to clean up the bay and restore its waters to levels fit for swimming, skin diving, and other forms of contact recreation. — LBG, GMA News