Floating trash in Manila Bay worries environment activists

Manila: A group of environmental activists has bemoaned the degeneration of Manila Bay and other bodies of water in the country into "floating landfills," due to unabated discard of non-biodegradable trash by residents.

Ben Galindo of the group Sagip Pasig Movement said water bodies in the country are rapidly turning into pollution hotspots where huge amounts of non-biodegradable trash, particularly plastics, are dumped daily.

He said aside from trash in the water bodies, other major hazards to the environment are fertiliser and pesticide run-offs from farms, and untreated effluents from residential, commercial and industrial establishments which are also damaging and killing the marine ecosystems.

Galindo pointed to a survey conducted in 2006 by the EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace Southeast Asia which reveals that synthetic plastic materials account for 76 per cent of the floating trash items in Manila Bay, out of which 51 per cent are plastic bags.

Manny Calonzo of the EcoWaste Coalition for his part said a 2006 survey conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) noted that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic trash.

The group is urging Filipinos to cut down on the use of plastic bags, reject all forms of littering and dumping, reduce trash and make it a habit to separate discards at source for reusing, recycling and composting.

Other problems

Aside from pollution of water bodies, Calonzo said another environmental issue confronting Filipinos, is the presence of open landfills. These, he said, continue to remain a threat to the people living around them, even several years after they are closed down.

Calonzo cited in particular the case of the Smokey Mountain in Manila's Tondo district, saying that more than a decade after it was ordered closed down by the government the huge mound of trash continues to pose a clear and present threat to the environment around it.