SPLASH OF TRASH . Department of Public Service (DPS) personnel sweep garbages washed ashore by the waves of Manila bay in Roxas Boulevard on Monday. PHOTO BY EARVIN PERIAS / FILE PHOTO
An environmental group urged the public on Sunday to stop treating Manila Bay as a “garbage dump” after Roxas Boulevard was flooded with trash again on Saturday.
The Eco-waste Coalition group said the public has failed to understand the effect of “reckless disposal” of garbage.
“The message is clear: We must stop treating Manila Bay like a garbage dump. We must unlearn the bad habit of throwing discards anywhere to prevent the bay from tossing garbage on us,” Daniel Alejandre, Zero Waste Campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition, said in a statement.
According to Alejandre, the garbage thrown back by the “angry bay” should be a wake-up call to the public and authorities to do something about our “lack of environmental awareness and responsibility.”
“The largely plastic waste materials washed by the bay should further remind us of the need to undo the practice of producing, buying, using and disposing of single-use plastics and other disposables,” he said.
“Manufacturers, in particular, need to find alternatives to plastic packaging that is polluting bodies of water like the Manila Bay,” he added. /ee
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