By Ivy Tejano DAVAO CITY — The Davao Ancillary Services Unit (ASU) on Thursday urged city residents, particularly those living along the coast to clean their surroundings and properly dispose of their garbage. ASU head Paul Bermejo made the appeal following reports on the alarming rise in the volume of garbage along the city's shorelines. Bermejo said he received a report that more than 3,000 sacks of garbage were collected from the shorelines in August. The ASU's Bantay Dagat team collected 3,147 sacks of trash last month, compared to the 2,066 sacks collected in July. "Although the increase in garbage collection from the coastlines can be attributed to the onset of habagat, it is still an indication that people continue to throw their garbage anywhere and these ended up in the coastal areas," Bermejo said. He said it was time for the public to go out of their homes and start cleaning to ensure that their trash do not end up in the ocean. "They should not wait for our coastal clean-up every Saturday, they should make it a daily habit to clean their surroundings," he said. Bermejo also invited the public to join the Bantay Dagat team and volunteer for the International Clean Up Day on Sept. 21. "Let us all come out and start cleaning. This is not only the concern of the city government but of everyone," he said. Bantay Dagat was created by Mayor Inday Sara Duterte to clean the coastal areas of the city and organize volunteers for the regular Saturday clean up.