26 July 2024, Quezon City. Due to the onslaught of the typhoon Carina-enhanced torrential rains which submerged vast communities in the National Capital Region and other areas, the EcoWaste Coalition postponed the “Walang Plastikan” concert-for-a-cause scheduled today in Pasig City.
“With typhoon Carina (and the Habagat) putting Metro Manila under the state of calamity, ‘Walang Plastikan 2024,’ which was set to be held on July 26, 2024, will be moved to a later date,” the group announced through its Facebook page.
In coordination with the Pasig City Sangguniang Kabataan Federation and the participating artists led by the EcoWaste Coalition’s anti-plastic ambassador and hip-hop singer Kiyo, the group decided to postpone the concert aimed at promoting awareness and action to address the plastic pollution crisis, as well as raise start-up funds to support 10 refill stores in the city.
In response to the disaster, the EcoWaste Coalition organized a quickly-planned community feeding activities in Quezon City for the benefit of some families belonging to the informal waste sector in Barangay Pinyahan yesterday and Barangay Manresa today.
The EcoWaste Coalition holds a community feeding program in Quezon City in response to the disaster.
The group also launched a disaster relief in-kind donations drive from July 26 to August 2 to assist partner informal waste sector groups and their families. Concerned citizens are invited to donate priority items such as rice, bread and canned goods, pails, vitamins and personal hygiene supplies. Donors may bring their in-kind donations to the office of the EcoWaste Coalition at 78-A, Masigla Extension, Barangay Central, Quezon City or email inquiries@ecowastecoalition.org for bulk pickup.
As citizens conduct cleanup activities to clear their households and communities of disaster debris and waste, the EcoWaste Coalition appealed to everyone to take steps to reduce the volume of trash requiring final disposal through the conscious retrieval, repair, reuse and recycling of useful resources.
The group also discouraged citizens from engaging in the open dumping and burning of discards to avoid further environmental degradation and pollution. Open dumping can attract insect pests and rodents, which can result in an outbreak of diseases, while open burning can discharge toxic pollutants, which can aggravate respiratory ailments, increase the risk of heart problems and cause other serious ailments.
The massive flooding of the National Capital Region and other affected areas, the EcoWaste Coalition emphasized, provides another painful reminder of our nation’s climate changed reality characterized by extreme weather events affecting the most vulnerable communities and sectors, especially the poor and marginalized.
Aside from climate change, the controversial reclamation projects off Manila Bay and the ineffective flood control systems, the group cited the inadequate enforcement of Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management, for the destructive flooding that brought the metropolis and surrounding areas to a standstill.
In particular, the group decried the long-overdue ban on single-use plastics and non-environmentally acceptable products and packaging materials and the poor enforcement of the prohibition on open dumping and littering as key aggravating factors for the massive flooding.
Finally, the EcoWaste Coalition encouraged groups and individuals engaged in disaster relief operations to minimize their use of single-use plastic bags, fearing these plastic disposables will again end up as garbage polluting our communities, rivers and the oceans.