Miss Earth urges candidates to dispose of campaign materials properly

Streets end up being "dump sites" for all types of waste products generated after months of election campaigning — from piles of crumpled sample ballots and campaign leaflets to vandalized election tarpaulins and washed-up campaign posters.

To prevent or at least minimize ill-effects of campaign materials on the environment, several cause-oriented groups like the EcoWaste Coalition and the Miss Earth Foundation (EMF) on Tuesday appealed both to candidates and voters to ensure that the May 10 elections would not contribute to the waste management problems besetting the country. The groups are urging the candidates — no matter if they win or lose — to properly dispose off the campaign materials that they used during the campaign period. Newly-crowned Miss Philippines-Earth 2010 Kris Psyche Resus, who leads her fellow Miss Earth winners in the groups' environmental awareness campaigns, stressed the importance of ensuring that campaign materials for the elections do not aggravate the country’s waste problems. Having personally witnessed how these campaign materials had littered their community after the 2007 national elections, Resus, a Cainta, Rizal resident, also urged candidates to lead the cleanup drives after the polls. "Mas malaki ang resources nila. Tanggalin nila ang sarili nilang mga gamit bilang serbisyo na rin sa bayan [The candidates have bigger resources. They should take down their own materials as part of their service to the country]," she said. Rei Panaligan of the EcoWaste Coalition expressed similar sentiments. "Matalo o manalo, pangunahan sana nila ang mga clean-up drives. Sa kanila rin naman galing ang mga materyales, kaya the right thing to do is to clean up," Panaligan told GMANews.TV. (Whether they win or lose, they should take the lead in clean up drives. The materials came from them in the first place. Which is why the right thing to do is to clean up.) As for members of the local communities, the EcoWaste Coalition and the MEF suggested that residents collect these "campaign garbages" and turn them into useful items. Through repurposing, reusing, and recycling or the "3Rs," campaign posters and leaflets made of paper and tarps could be made into bags, place mats, and bookmarks among others.

A member of the EcoWaste Coalition shows a bouquet of colorful flowers made from shredded election posters, as part of its campaign to minimize waste after the May polls, during a program in Quezon City on Tuesday. Mark D. Merueñas

Wires and wooden sticks used in erecting campaign posters can later be transformed into garden fences, picture frames, wooden blinds, or even kite frames. Leaflets and sample ballots can be shredded and turned into either bedding for pet animals or strips used in making paper vases and hats. Left over campaign paraphernalia could even end up generating extra income for cash-strapped but creative and crafty individuals, Panaligan added. "By exerting a bigger effort and using imagination and creativity, they can earn from this," he said, suggesting that campaign posters made of paper or carton could be sold to junk shops. Designer bags, organizers, aprons, and a wide array of gift items could also be sold at reasonable prices, Panaligan added. Resus added that while the government should not lose its focus on solving other pressing environmental problems like cleaning the Pasig River or making liveable residences for homeless people, it should first address the "most urgent" concern at this time, which is the waste management problem expected to arise during the elections. Monitoring Launching a nationwide monitoring of campaign materials disposal could become "really tricky," Panaligan admitted. However, he assured that the EcoWaste Coalition would still mobilize its 100 member organizations to watch over cleanliness in communities. The groups are hoping that data that would be gathered from their monitoring could be used to urge the Comelec and the Department of Environement and Natural Resources to craft new policies to address garbage problems arising after the elections. "Comelec guidelines are not updated. They do not address cleanliness. The guidelines say that campaign posters must be taken down but the rules are not that comprehensive," Panaligan said. The EcoWaste Foundation has long been targeting a zero-waste Philippines by employing and instilling ecological waste solutions among communities. While the environmental group admitted that their target could not be achieved immediately after the elections, it expressed hope that the public would be more aware of the environmental risks that campaigning pose come the next elections in 2013. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV