EDITORIAL — A change in attitude?

Those who conducted a recent citywide cleanup the other day were happy to note a significant decrease in the volume of the garbage they collected.

According to CENRO officer in-charge and Coastal Board Management member Reymarr Hijara they collected only a total of 61.40 tons of garbage in the last major cleanup activity of the year, compared to the 137 tons of garbage collected for the same period last year.

We thank the volunteers for their work in the cleanup. This isn’t easy to do or something just anyone would do. But we also fear they might have to deal with a similar or even bigger volume of trash next time.

This is because our attitude regarding how we deal with trash has not really changed.

From what we see of what people in the street still normally do, our attitude toward cleanliness is still cavalier if not totally indifferent. We think nothing of dumping our trash as if someone will pick up after them. Take a walk in any street and we guarantee you will see your fair share of food and candy wrappers, cigarette butts, plastic water bottles, single-use plastics, and other such items carelessly discarded.

Many of us also still pile bags of trash in areas where they shouldn’t be placed.

And if that attitude has not changed then we can once again expect a great volume of trash from our homes or hands to end up in our streets and rivers. Of course, this would also mean the same flooding and clogging problems the city experiences every year, with each year’s flooding problem getting progressively worse.

But then again there is always that chance that this decrease in trash volume actually reflects a change in attitude regarding how we deal with trash. That, finally, Cebuanos are now disposing of their trash in places where they should be instead of just anywhere.

Dare we hope this is the case?