SOS: No garbage in the sky

No landfill in the sky, please.

It’s fiesta time and that urgent plea comes from The EcoWaste Coalition, a waste and pollution watchdog, which is up in arms against the unrestrained use of disposable plastic buntings (banderitas) and promotional banners that comes with festive celebrations.

Buntings and banners are becoming an environmental and health nightmare with the increased demand for raw materials to make these non-essential stuff and the ensuing garbage created by their use.

The eco group notes with great concern that the indiscriminate use of single-use buntings and banners in fiestas and other festive events is creating a landfill in the sky that has zero spiritual or aesthetic value.

“Why wrap the sky with meaningless stuff that will only add to the already mounting piles of garbage that our communities generate?” says Rei Panaligan, coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.“We urge the leaders of the government as well as the church to act against the proliferation of disposable plastic buntings. We believe that a ban on buntings that cannot be reused, repaired or recycled is in order for the sake of community health and the environment.”

The eco group also drew attention to the pointless display of “happy fiesta” greetings on tarpaulin or cloth by local and national politicians and business interests that only clutter the streets and add to the garbage piles. It can’t stress enough this pressing call: “No public or private funds should be used in anything that will result in garbage and aggravate the garbage crisis.”

Visiting Pandacan and Tondo, Manila, the EcoWasteCoalition was dismayed to see the widespread display of disposable buntings, such as plastic bags, plastic packaging scraps, plastic strips, and various product advertisements, as if the country was not already facing a monstrous garbage crisis.

“In many instances, we saw buntings made of unused super thin plastic bags crisscrossing streets and alleys. Very few people seem to realize that we do not honor the Holy Child Jesus (referring to the Sto. Niño procession last Janurary) by creating trash that will endanger public health, especially the health of children who are most vulnerable to toxic pollution,” laments EcoWaste.

The EcoWaste Coalition asserts that “the true essence of our time-honored festive celebrations is not expressed by the length and color of plastic buntings crisscrossing our streets, but by how we rekindle our faith and share our community blessings through the fiesta.”

They add, ”The deceivingly harmless-looking buntings and banners can threaten the environment with toxic pollutants, particularly when these are littered, dumped or burned after the fiesta.

Burning plastics, in particular, releases toxic smoke and other extremely hazardous compounds such as dioxins that can result in a host of health problems, including cancers. Children and people with heart conditions and respiratory ailments are especially sensitive to air pollutants. Aside from the pollution resulting from their improper disposal, plastic bags are made with fossil fuel oil, further contributing to the problems of dirty energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and diminishing resources.

For more information, call  EcoWaste Coalition at 929-0376.

And haven’t you noticed that the other sky pollutants — those dangerous billboards that are also eyesores in our grim skyscape — are back?

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a burning warning about the deadly effects of smoking to human health.

“Many smokers do not see cigarette butt litter as a major problem because of their small size and not many are aware that discarded butts can pose a heavy toll on the environment,” says retired nurse Elsie Brandes-de Veyra, a Steering Committee member of the EcoWaste Coalition. “Butts may look small, but with the Pinoy’s addiction to cigarette and tobacco, and the quantity of carelessly thrown butts in the environment, these items can pose real toxic threats to humans and wildlife.”

“Cigarette butts are the most common form of trash and litter around us,” observes Dr. Encarnita Limpin, executive director, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance, Philippines (FCAP), who warns that “cigarette butts are a deadly menace, containing tiny toxins that can adversely affect our ecosystems and wreak havoc on our lives beyond our imagination.”

She urges, “Let us clean our environment of cigarette litter and in turn safeguard our health and the general welfare of the next generation.”

Citing facts gathered from anti-smoking literature, EcoWaste points out that cigarette butts can take up to 25 years to break down due to the cellulose acetate, a type of plastic, in the filters that resists biodegradation.  Discarded butts leach toxic chemicals into the water and soil as they corrode into tiny plastic powder. Butts are often carried by wind and rain into the storm drains and they are mistaken as food by birds, fishes, and other creatures, causing digestive blockages and the ingestion of toxic chemicals found in the filter such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead. 

Littered butts also contribute significantly to sediment pollution. Data culled from the Ocean Conservancy show that seven million pounds of litter were collected from the international cleanup of beaches and shorelines in 2006 in the Philippines and 67 other countries.  Some 1.9 million discarded cigarette butts were collected out of the estimated 4.5 trillion butts scattered every year across the globe.

According to FCAP, some 30 million Filipinos smoke out of the national population of 87 million.  DOH estimates that some 75,000 Filipinos die yearly of tobacco-related diseases such as stroke, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and heart attack. A recent WHO report reveals that a devastating tobacco pandemic could kill a billion people by 2100.  Today, smoking kills one person every six seconds and accounts for one in 10 adult deaths worldwide.

So, for the umpteenth time, take this fiery message: Quit smoking. It’s costly and deadly. No ifs and butts about it.

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Reduce, reuse, recycle

We learned the three Rs (reading, ’rithing, and ’rithmetic) in school Now, learn the other three Rs: Reduce, reuse, recycle. That’s the timely theme of the “3R Environment Stewardship” campaign launched by Dell in the Philippines in response to global sustainability challenges. Through this, Dell employees can now contribute to waste reduction and the protection of the environment.

“This is a big and relevant milestone for Dell Philippines because the company is implementing the 3R campaign in lieu of a great cause,” said Michael Garrison, Dell Philippines country manager, who also announced Dell’s commitment to neutralize the carbon impact of its worldwide operations in a policy forum organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

A beneficiary of this campaign is Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, a shelter foundation for the physically-handicapped, which Dell Philippines has chosen for its similar advocacy in recycling projects.

Says Roderick Silva, Dell Philippines’ head of environmental, health and safety department, “Dell Philippines is collecting and donating used beverage cans, foil packs, and old newspapers in the plastic bins, since these materials can be converted into flexible aluminum tubing material, which can subsequently be used as parts in creating wheelchairs for our community partner (Tahanang Walang Hagdanan).”

In addition, Dell Philippines employees are working to offset the emissions impact of the company’s remaining energy. Projects are being lined up, according to Silva, to evaluate the long-term viability of the 3R campaign, while also ensuring that the carbon savings are real.

To dramatize its call to go global, Dell recently committed to an aggressive, long-term goal to be the “greenest technology company on the planet.” That initiative has got Dell partnering with a group of environment-conscious people called The ReGeneration. Now, that’s another R to add to your six Rs!

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