Nazareno devotees ignore appeal for garbage-free ‘traslacion’

With huge crowd comes big trash piles. —August dela Cruz

For the nth time, a zero-waste advocacy group criticized Black Nazarene devotees for leaving huge piles of litter in parts of Manila on Monday, some even dumping bottles or trash bags filled with urine on the streets.

But EcoWaste Coalition saw a bright spot this year in the “sincere” efforts of government officials, nongovernment organizations, Church leaders and student volunteers to launch cleanup drives in the city after the daylong mammoth religious procession from Rizal Park to Quiapo Church.

“It seems that the appeal for a trash-less ‘traslacion’ by no less than Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has fallen on deaf ears. We are saddened by the lack of respect for the environment by some devotees who simply left their discards lying on the ground for others to pick up,” EcoWaste campaigner Ochie Tolentino said.

According to her, the most common waste materials discarded were food leftovers, food packaging, barbecue sticks, polystyrene containers, plastic bags, plastic bottles, soiled newspapers and cigarette butts.

“We even found PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and plastic bags filled with human urine in [Rizal Park],” Tolentino said.

‘Stop burdening others’

“While we commend the government’s waste and sanitation workers and the eco-volunteers from the parishes and schools for picking up the litter that others have left, we think the public, particularly the devotees, should take full responsibility for their trash, including their urine, and stop burdening others,” she added.

In particular, EcoWaste lauded the Archdiocese of Manila Ecology Ministry for putting up a waste management system at Rizal Park. It also thanked the Philippine College of Criminology and other universities and parochial schools for mobilizing their students for a cleanup.

The group also recognized the Manila City government’s Department of Public Services and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for deploying street sweepers along the procession route.

EcoWaste also thanked informal waste recyclers for picking up the plastic bottles and other recyclable discards left behind by devotees.

In 2016, the MMDA hauled some 30 truckloads or about 315 tons of trash from the route of the traslacion. The 20-hour-long procession was attended by over 1.5 million devotees.