New Year trash in Manila: 'Totally unacceptable'

MANILA, Philippines – An environmental watchdog group slammed as “totally unacceptable” the amount of garbage on the streets of Metro Manila on Friday, January 1, after New Year festivities in the metropolis. 

“After all the holiday shopping and partying, we find our household bins bulging at the seams and the streets strewn with garbage waiting to be swept away and hauled to the dumpsite,” said EcoWaste Coalition coordinator Aileen Lucero in a statement.

“The ugly sight and stench of mixed ‘holitrash’ (short for holiday trash) left on street corners and market areas can make one’s stomach turn,” she added.

Metro Manila roads were again dotted with trash like firecracker remnants, disposable food containers, plastic, and food leftovers hours after the Filipinos welcomed the new year. (READ: My New Year's resolution: Less garbage in the PH)

Lucero further condemned the garbage on the streets, saying the “dreadful trashing” of the environment is worse because it happened on the first day of January, which Malacañang declared as Zero Waste Month through Proclamation No. 760.

Members of the EcoWaste Coalition went to Recto Avenue in Divisoria, Manila, on New Year’s Day and unfurled a banner saying, “Next Time: Try the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle),” on top of a garbage mound.

A day earlier, the group also took photos of the trash left in some streets in the same area. 

“In the midst of a changing climate, we can no longer continue maltreating Mother Nature as a limitless source of raw materials for our needs and wants, and as a vast landfill for wastes and toxics,” Lucero said.

“Our wastefulness is already taking its toll on public health and the environment with garbage choking not only our communities, but even our rivers and seas,” she added. – Rappler.com