Carvajal: Peril to life

TWO stark depictions of how we manage our waste are: a) a garbage truck, “Solid Waste Management ” painted on its sides, scatters trash on the street as it goes to an open-pit garbage dumpsite; and b) esteros so densely clogged with solid waste, mostly plastics, that one could walk on them.

These scenes tell the story of practically zero waste management. Like, Boracay had to be closed because lack of proper waste disposal was close to irreparably damaging the island’s environment.

But it’s not just us. The world’s oceans have so much plastic dumped into them scientists are predicting plastic will soon outnumber fish in the ocean. More fish are dying from ingesting toxic waste and more people are being poisoned by plastic micro-fibers, mercury, etc. in the fish that they eat.

This is a horrifying prospect which cries for aggressive positive action from responsible governments. We cannot just be cleaning up esteros or closing down resorts. Neither can we avert disaster by sloganeering and token nature-friendly activities once a year on earth day. Needed are laws that make real the refuse-reduce-re-use-recycle mantra.

What the Baguio City Council has done is a good example. It has forced market goers to bring their own containers with an ordinance disallowing vendors to put purchases in single-use plastic bags. LGU’s need to come up with ordinances that limit plastic to items that are re-usable and have a long life-cycle and mandate the recycling of all plastic waste.

Lapu-lapu City’s relocation of shore-line informal settlers is commendable because it stops people from disposing of their waste directly into the surrounding sea that is already populated by a more than tolerable level of e. coli. I just hope that they have access to water-sealed toilets in their relocation site so they don’t just transfer deadly bacteria from sea-water to underground water.

Naga City’s initially free treatment of waste from septic tanks is also commendable... but a concern remains. What about residents who do not have septic tanks because they dispose of their waste directly into the ground or water? And what about septic tank owners who refuse to pay for the use of the water-treatment machine?

Boracay’s closure is political will exemplified. We hope LGU’s will have the same political will to come up with ordinances that reward those who refuse, reduce, re-use, recycle waste, plastics especially, and punish those who do not.

Again sloganeering and giving people the option to refuse, reduce, re-use, recycle will simply not cut it. Laws and ordinances are needed to be passed and strictly implemented if we are to avert the peril that plastics and other toxic waste pose to life on earth.

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