Campaigners for healthy environment have launched a crusade
for a waste-free elections to avert the anticipated avalanche of campaign trash
that will likely end up in garbage dumps all over the country.
Eco Waste Coalition volunteers from various groups and
communities gathered outside the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Intramuros,
Manila to urge the poll body to take proactive measures that will check and curb
waste in campaign operations and activities.
Together with Ms. Earth 2006 (Water) Cathy Untalan, the
coalition’s "super hero" named "Walang Aksaya" or zero waste presented to
Commissioner Rene Sarmiento a set of guidelines that the Comelec, political
parties and candidates can use to prevent and reduce campaign waste.
The campaign mascot "Walang Aksaya" in a green and yellow
costume linked arms with the more than 50 "Waste-Free Elections Patrol"
volunteers. Together they vowed to persuade political parties and aspiring
public servants to use resources judiciously and stick to earth-friendly
campaign practices. They will likewise keep tabs on "dirty" candidates that hurt
trees and spoil the surroundings with campaign trash.
"We urge all well-meaning candidates to put waste avoidance
and reduction at the heart of their strategy to win, so as to minimize the
health, environmental and financial cost of unwarranted campaign trash. Sa
kandidatong may malasakit sa kalikasan, may pag-asa ang bayan," said Manny
Calonzo, Eco Waste Coalition secretary.
Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, the environmentalist leader of
the Archdiocese of Manila, has endorsed the Eco Waste Coalition’s campaign,
urging the Comelec and Filipinos from all walks of life to team up to ensure a
clean election that is free from fraud and waste.
"As stewards of His creation, I urge all the faithful,
especially the political parties and all those running for public office, to pay
careful attention to the health and environmental effects of all campaign
materials and events to ensure that nothing is wasted," said Rosales.
Waste-free elections, according to Eco Waste Coalition, will
diminish the wasteful consumption of paper and other valuable resources and
minimize the release of toxic contaminants such as greenhouse gases, persistent
organic pollutants and heavy metals into our communities and into our air, water
and food supplies.
Eco Waste is suggesting the use of post-consumer recycled
paper for campaign materials to conserve trees and protest forests, watersheds,
and ecosystems. Data obtained by the coalition show that each ton of recycled
paper can reportedly save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil and 7,000 gallons of
water. Uncoated virgin printing and office paper, on the other hand, uses 24
trees.
The coalition advises candidates to shun campaign materials
that are hardly reused or recycled such as confetti, buntings and balloons and
also to avoid tarpaulin, Styrofoam and other plastics as their disposal has been
environmentally problematic.
The launch of the waste-free elections campaign drew the participation of
Buklod Tao Foundation, Cavite Green Coalition, Concerned Citizens Against
Pollution, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Greenpeace Southeast
Asia, Health Care Without Harm, Mother Earth Foundation, Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice
and Peace, November 17 Movement, Sagip Pasig Movement, Sanib Lakas ng Inang
Kalikasan and Zero Waste Philippines.
