Environmental group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), Inc. is urging governments to strengthen measures that prevent plastic waste from being generated and discarded in the first place, saying coastal cleanups alone cannot address the region’s growing waste problem.
The call came after the 2026 International Coastal Cleanup in the Davao Region collected 19,115.19 kilograms of waste along approximately 32 kilometers of coastline.
IDIS commended the Department of Environment and Natural Resources 11 (DENR 11), local government units, communities, civil society groups, private sector organizations and the 6,852 volunteers who took part in the cleanup.
“The collection of 19,115.19 kilograms of waste from approximately 32 kilometers of coastline demonstrates both the value of collective environmental action and the continuing scale of the waste problem confronting our communities,” IDIS said.
However, the group said cleanup activities should not end with the removal of waste. It urged authorities to use cleanup data to identify the sources and types of pollution and develop policies that prevent waste from reaching waterways and coastal areas.
According to DENR 11, commonly collected waste included beverage bottles and cans, glass and plastic containers, foam packaging, food wrappers, and small plastic and foam fragments.
IDIS said these findings could help authorities identify products and packaging that repeatedly enter the environment, trace their sources, and develop measures to reduce waste generation.
“Responsibility must begin upstream,” the group said.
IDIS called for stronger national and local policies to curb the production, distribution and consumption of unnecessary and problematic single-use plastics and packaging.
It also urged the DENR to release and implement the list of Non-Environmentally Acceptable Products and Packaging (NEAPP).
At the local level, IDIS called on the Davao City Government to strictly enforce its ordinance regulating single-use plastics, saying regulations must be matched by consistent implementation and compliance among businesses and establishments.
The group also encouraged local governments across the Davao Region to adopt or strengthen policies regulating single-use plastics and promote reusable and refill systems.
Lawyer Mark Peñalver, IDIS executive director, said communities should not be left to deal with waste only after it has entered the environment.
“Every sack of waste we remove from our coastlines is important, but we should also be asking why communities have to keep collecting the same kinds of waste year after year,” Peñalver said.
“Cleanups address what has already leaked into the environment. Strong regulation and waste prevention address why it gets there in the first place. We need to move beyond managing plastic waste and start reducing it at the source,” he added.
IDIS also called for stronger government support for zero-waste programs, barangay-level waste reduction and segregation, materials recovery, composting, reuse and refill systems, and initiatives involving waste workers and local communities.
The group said the participation of thousands of volunteers demonstrates the willingness of communities to help protect the environment, but stressed that responsibility should not fall primarily on citizens who are repeatedly asked to collect waste after it has already been produced, sold, consumed and discarded.
IDIS said the 19,115.19 kilograms of waste collected should serve as a basis for stronger action to prevent pollution at its source.
“The ultimate measure of progress should not be how much waste we can collect every year. It should be how much waste we prevent from being produced and entering our communities and ecosystems in the first place,” the group said.
