CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has turned over to Bulakan town in Bulacan the fifth P1.7-million trash boat it has been donating to local governments of towns and cities on the coast of Manila Bay.
DENR provincial officer Celia Esteban said the donation of trash boat to the town led by Mayor Patrick Meneses was part of her agency’s efforts to comply with the order of the Supreme Court in 2008 ordering various government agencies to clean up and revive the polluted bay.
She said the boat has an outboard motor and is made of fiberglass. It also has a scooper that filters garbage floating on Manila Bay. The DENR already distributed similar trash boats to the local governmentsf Obando in Bulacan, the province of Cavite, and the cities of Manila and Malabon.
The agency plans to distribute a total of 20 trash boats to areas affecting Manila Bay. “The boat has a built-in radio, Global Positioning System monitor, roof and is capable of accommodating 22 crewmen,” she added.
Esteban said that the trash filtered from the bay is gathered on the built-in deck where the items could be sorted out manually. “The garbage would then be put in bags which would be loaded on trucks on the pier for transport to materials recovery facility,” she added.
Meneses said the trash boat would also be used in local rivers, particularly at Sitio Wawang Kapis in Barangays Taliptip where the local government maintains a fishery reserve that empties into he Manila Bay.
