Garbage piles up at cemeteries after Undas

With this year’s Undas (All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days) all but over, authorities are again left to clean up cemeteries of tons of garbage that piled up during the Undas break. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority started cleaning up major cemeteries in Metro Manila of the piles of garbage, according to a report by radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo. At the Manila North Cemetery, the MMDA teams were joined by units from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Manila City Safety Unit in cleaning several tons of garbage left behind by visitors. The report quoted MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino as estimating that about 1.1 million visitors to the cemetery left behind one kilo of garbage each. The yearly pileup of garbage came less than two months after Filipinos marked the second anniversary of the devastation brought by Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana) on Metro Manila. At the time, garbage was tagged as a major cause of the flooding that devastated many parts of Metro Manila in the wake of Ondoy in September 2009.

Meanwhile, ecological group EcoWaste Coalition asked local authorities in charge of public cemeteries and managers of memorial parks to conduct cleanups soonest. "While the volume of trash may or may not be as bad as in previous years, we still find the littering that again marred the observance of Undas regrettable ... The deluge of people who visited the tombs of their relatives and friends saw cemeteries and adjoining streets being littered with cigarette butts, food wrappers and containers, plastic bags and other discards," said group president Roy Alvarez. Citing data from the National Solid Waste Management Commission, the Ecowaste Coalition said the country produces some 36,000 tons of garbage daily, out of which 7,000 tons are generated in Metro Manila. Recyclable materials But the group also said cemetery officials and overseers should ensure only non-reusable, non-recyclable and non-compostable discards are sent to residual disposal facilities. Instead of just loading them into garbage trucks, efforts should be made to retrieve reusable and recyclable materials such as papers, boxes, beverage cans and plastic bottles, it said. The group said biodegradable materials like food leftovers, plant trimmings, discarded flowers and the like should be composted on site if practicable. On the other hand, it stressed that open burning should never be done as this is illegal and very polluting. The group said the ecological management of discards will surely help in trimming down the volume of mixed waste sent to dumpsites and landfills, while providing health, environmental, climate and livelihood benefits. — RSJ, GMA News