Less trash collected in Luneta during Christmas this year

FILE: A family goes on a picnic at the Luneta Park in Manila. Luneta is a popular destination among Filipinos during the holidays due to its wide, open spaces perfect for family picnics. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA — The National Parks Development Committee (NPDC), an attached agency of the Department of Tourism (DOT), on Friday reported it collected less trash in Luneta (Rizal Park) this Christmas season compared to last year.

NPDC executive director Cecile Lorenzana-Romero said from December 24 to 25, about 50 metric tons of garbage were collected in the park by the city personnel.

She said the huge volume of garbage collected during those dates at Rizal Park was less compared to last year.

“NPDC employees, security guards and police provided free garbage bags to the park goers so they won’t leave their trash at the park and advised them to throw their garbage at the designated garbage bins,” she said.

Luneta is a popular destination among Filipinos during the holidays due to its wide, open spaces perfect for family picnics.

To continue their initiative on zero-waste management, Lorenzana-Romulo said the NPDC is planning to partner with the Manila City Hall in launching more clean-up projects inside the park.

“As part of DOT’s campaign on sustainable tourism and eco-friendly tourist destinations and to address this concern, the NPDC will come up with a Zero-Waste/Trash Segregation Program to promote discipline among the park-goers and to lessen the impact of trash to the environment,” she said.

“Our idea for next year is to tie up with Manila City Hall in providing programs/workshops that promote zero waste, trash segregation and composting to promote sustainability and environment-friendly practices in the city.

I think this is also aligned with Yorme’s (Mayor Isko Moreno’s) stance on cleaning up Manila,” she added.