Eco group to voters: Keep polling precincts clean

A waste and pollution watchdog group made a last-minute appeal to Filipino voters Saturday to keep the polling precincts clear of trash on May 10. EcoWaste said keeping polling places litter-free should be part of a "truly clean" election. “We appeal to all democracy-loving Filipinos not to litter as we exercise our right to suffrage and our right to participate in setting the course of our nation’s future. Let us not turn May 10 into a holiday for litterbugs," said Eileen Sison of the EcoWaste Coalition, in an entry on the group's blogsite. She added a trash-free election day will be in accord with the country’s continuing war against wastefulness that is steadily wiping out its natural resource base, degrading the environment and harming the climate with pollutants. Sison is also the NGO representative to the National Solid Waste Management Commission. EcoWaste noted the Commission on Elections expects 50 million registered voters to take part in the country's first automated polls. It lamented the tons of litter created in the campaign sorties and rallies during the 90-day campaign period that ends midnight Saturday. EcoWaste said each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, and 7,000 gallons of water, representing a 64-percent energy savings, a 58 percent water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution. It added the 17 trees saved can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. The group added burning the same ton of paper would create 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide. It also said burning chlorine-containing campaign discards can also cause the formation and release of dioxins, the most toxic chemicals known to science, into the environment. “As you can see, recycling paper discards will have tremendous benefits, so why litter and waste those sample ballots and leaflets and create preventable health and environmental pollutants," Sison said. — LBG, GMANews.TV