IT IS REALLY great to see families and friends happily celebrating the New Year with bright and boisterous countdown to 2020 and the customary media noche feasts. But what makes this beautiful tradition ugly is our penchant to consume and throw a lot of things as can be seen from the overflowing bins to the garbage piles dotting our neighborhoods following the revelry.
Many of our communities, especially in thickly populated areas, are drowning in post-revelry garbage on the first day of January, which, incidentally, is observed as “Zero Waste Month.” In some places, it may take a few days for haulers to clear streets of mini-dumps.
We need to stop trashing our communities with mixed wastes dumped in our streets, including food leftovers, product packaging, plastics and hazardous residuals from firecrackers and fireworks. Crass consumerism and poor waste segregation contribute to the huge amounts of garbage requiring disposal after the holidays.
As we mark January as “Zero Waste Month”, let us appeal to all waste generators – from households, institutions to businesses and industries – to commit to proven waste prevention and reduction practices as embodied in Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. By actively enforcing the provisions of RA 9003, we can dramatically cut the volume garbage.
RA 9003 requires the formulation and adoption of the best environmental practices in ecological waste management excluding incineration, such as waste separation at source, reuse, recycling and composting.
While we demand that manufacturers embrace clean production and extended producer responsibility, we as consumers need to consume responsibly, choose products in least packaging, and ditch single-use plastics altogether. We should also properly sort our discards to facilitate their reuse, recycling or composting.
Bottom line: Be eco-friendly. Let us make this our New Year’s resolution.
