In the big metro cities, like Manila and Angeles City, trash is everywhere. It lines the streets and fills rivers that run through town. The air is polluted and it just feels dirty breathing it. Away from all that, in the provinces, things are cleaner. However, as more tourists invade these areas, plastic becomes as common as tricycles. The government has tried to help the bigger tourist areas. Just this past year, they shut down a place called Borocay to clean it Less well-known communities are doing their part to keep the plastic off the ground and out of the ocean as well, but there is still a long way to go.
I learned about environmental pollution from being a tourist. The sleepy coastal town of Liwa in the province of Zambales is one of those communities committed to protecting the environment. The owner of hostel that my friend and I stayed at was one of the main supporters of this effort. It turns out that plastic pollution is a big problem in the Philippines because there is not enough infrastructure in place to clean up litter and trash, which often end up in rivers and, eventually, the ocean.
