By TARA YAP
ILOILO CITY — With the recent reopening of Boracay Island, long-term remedies are sought to properly address its trash management.
“It is important that the Boracay people know the existing problems on solid waste. They should also be the one to identify the possible solutions to the problem because it is their community,” said Valentin Talabero, Aklan provincial chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
According to Talabero, the workshop for ecological solid waste management conducted by DENR’s Task Force Tayo ang Kalikasan (TAK) is a technical guide for Boracay businesses, schools, the youth, and barangay officials to mobilize and act.
Prior to President Duterte’s cesspool tag, one of the perennial problems is the proper management of trash generated by the resort island’s tourism industry.
Last year, tourists and residents complained of foul odor emanating from Boracay’s main trash facility, where 20,000-30,000 kilos of trash was left, prompting DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu to order the local government of Malay town, Aklan province to haul it to the mainland.
“This Tayo ang Kalikasan movement will inculcate to the Boracay community to properly implement its solid waste management,” added Jim Sampulna, DENR regional director for Western Visayas.