The blast of garbage in the promenade along Manila Bay due to thestormy weather has again put a spotlight on improper wastedisposal. The EcoWaste Coalition, a waste and pollution watchdog, describedthe chaos in Roxas Boulevard due to monsoon surge, flood andgarbage as Mother Nature"s indictment of throw-away culturethat runs through all levels of the society. Yesterday, 1 August, tons of garbage from the bay carpeted portionsof the baywalk creating an instant dumpsite right next to the USEmbassy. At the other end of the promenade, garbage gathered at the ManilaYacht Club, especially last Tuesday, turning the area into a"white beach" due to the plastic and styro flotsam. "Binalik ng dagat ang lahat ng basura mula sa lupa na parangsinasabi sa mga matitigas ang ulo na kung ano ang tinapon mo aybabalik sa iyo" (The sea sent back the garbage from the landas if telling off pigheaded people that whatever you throw willreturn to you), said Edwin Alejo, Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.
An ocular inspection by the EcoWaste Coalition"s BasuraPatrol found plastic bags and scraps, food wrappers, polystyrenematerials, slippers, cigarette butts, plant and wood discards asamong the most visible in the garbage piles. Discarded plastic bottles and other recyclable plastic and tincontainers were quick to disappear from the piles as enterprisingwaste pickers collect and even fish them out of the sea with theirimprovised net trap, the group noted. The EcoWaste Coalition lamented that despite the onslaught oftyphoon Ondoy in 2009 and the just as devastating incidents offlooding after it year after year, many Filipinos - from all walksof life - have yet to unlearn the bad habit of indiscriminatedisposal. "Improper waste disposal anywhere is a threat to human healthand the environment everywhere.
It"s more than an eyesore. It"s a precursor for other societal problems such as poorhygiene and sanitation, infectious diseases, chemical exposures,contamination of surface and ground waters, marine pollution, bleaktourism and even economic losses," said Alejo. In lieu of "waste mismanagement," the EcoWasteCoalition urged the entire society, including the people,government, church, mass media, business and industry, to activelywork for the full enforcement of Republic Act 9003 or theEcological Solid Waste Management Act. The ecological management of discards will require a switch fromthe prevalent "buy, consume, dispose of, dump orincinerate" mentality to a sustainable way of living thatembraces environmental protection and care beginning with wasteprevention, reduction, segregation at source, reuse, recycling andcomposting. To assist the public in making the switch, the EcoWaste Coalitiondrew up a list of 13 practical "Bawas Basura" tips,which, if carried out, will promote ecological consumption choicesas well as avert the disposal of useful discards in streets,waterways, waste dumps and burners.
A shift to ecological waste management will reduce thenation"s burgeoning waste estimated at nearly 13 milliontons yearly, put an end to the outmoded practice of littering,burning and dumping of discards, and shut down and rehabilitate theover 1,000 illegal dumpsites all over the country, the group said. Citing information from the National Solid Waste ManagementCommission, the EcoWaste Coalition said that the whole countryproduces some 35,000 tons of waste daily, of which 8,400 tons comefrom Metro Manila. Of the 12,775,000 tons of waste generated annually, some 40 to 70per cent are collected and thrown in 1,205 waste disposalfacilities, of which 55 are "sanitary" landfills and1,172 are open or controlled dumpsites long forbidden under R.A.9003. Recognizing the central role of local government units in theimplementation of R.A. 9003, the EcoWaste Coalition appealed to allconcerned public servants to earnestly enforce the law, combiningsustained information, education and other value-formation effortswith steadfast programs to prevent and reduce waste.
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