[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading tag=’h3′ padding=’10’ heading=’ A greener, toxic-free Christmas’ color=” style=’blockquote modern-quote’ custom_font=” size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ custom_class=”][/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
LET this be our goal this holiday season: Honor the birth of the Child Jesus with a greener, simpler and toxic-free celebration that will not harm public health and the environment.
As Christmas fever grips the country, the spate of holiday festivities is expected to generate extra tons of discards. We urge the general public to take conscious steps to reduce the volume of the anticipated holiday trash or âholitrash.â
If we donât exert any effort to responsibly consume and willfully segregate, reuse, recycle or compost our discards, our throw-outs would surely end up in street corners, empty lots, dumpsites, landfills, incinerators or even in the rivers, seas and oceans. Again and again, we find our bins filled to the brim before, during and after the Christmas and New Year festivities as if we were not yet throwing enough throughout the year.
To reduce the environmental impacts of our revelries, we urge all waste generators from households to shopping malls to make it a point to lessen âholitrashâ to the least possible. How? Be an eco-friendly shopper by bringing your own reusable bags and containers, by buying local as much as possible, by choosing products in the least amount of packaging, and by avoiding both paper and plastic carry bags as well as single-use party disposables.
To cut on food waste, prepare only for what is needed and to ensure that excess foods are properly stored and recycled, or shared with others, particularly with indigent families and the homeless.
Christmas boxes, wrappers and gift accessories should be kept for the next gift-giving and not simply torn and thrown to the bin. These can also be repurposed as materials for school art and craft activities.
Sort discards at source to make reusing, recycling and composting easy and fun. Recyclable materials such as boxes and papers, soda cans, glass and plastic bottles and other containers can be sold to junk shops or, better, given to informal waste recyclers to bring Christmas cheer to those who help in conserving our planetâs resources. Biodegradable discards such as fruit and vegetable peelings can be composted at home or at the barangay composting facility.
Reducing the âholitrashâ is certainly a doable gift that all of us can offer to Mother Earth this festive season of giving and sharing.
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
