Why practice proper waste management?
You buy something, a snack or a drink, perhaps. You open it, eat or drink the contents, but there’s one problem: You’re left with an empty container. Trash. Waste. Useless. Those are the words that come to mind. You immediately start searching for a trashcan to throw that useless junk that you’re left with.
Sometimes (especially in the case of Filipinos, such as myself) you can’t even find a trash bin to throw your wastes in. So you might have resorted to something else... You casually walk to the nearest canal, or whatever area you can find that seems like a suitable drop-off for trash- door hinges, under rocks, off the side of buildings or cars- you name it. Then you walk away slightly happy, since you got that annoying piece of trash off of you.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t know the consequences of our little actions. You might have been thinking “This is just a little garbage, surely no one would mind.” But hey, think about how many others are thinking the same thing as you. Picture a few hundred, a few thousand, or even a few million people, all thinking that the trash they thoughtlessly put away would have no effect on anything. The amount of trash gets a whole lot bigger, doesn’t it?
Now imagine the natural calamities and phenomena all around the world. You’ll notice that our thoughtless actions have either worsened or added to the damage caused by these events. One of the best examples I can think of are floods. They would have occurred less often when we kept our canals and rivers clean and free from floating garbage that cause drainage problems. Floods would also be less damaging without all the garbage clogging drains here and there.
Another example would be air pollution which, by the way, we probably might have increased a lot since we started using fossil fuels. Burning plastics and old rubber tires (Also known here as “pagsisiga”) ? Still a big practice here in the Philippines.
Incinerators? Same case. Smoke belching cars? More or less still present. Open-air dump sites? Sure.
By now you probably get the point: Lack of discipline, BAD. Proper waste management and disposal, GOOD. Now you must be thinking, how could YOU help make a change? You may not be making a change for the Philippines (if you’re not in the Philippines), but the ways in which you can help pretty much apply to anywhere you live. You can start by riding a bike (which by the way is pretty exhausting if you’re riding uphill) or by being a clean and green person.
How, you ask? Being clean and green doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do so many investments or seminars or whatever it is. You can start small. Practice pocketing or keeping your trash until you find a suitable waste bin, of course it doesn’t hurt if you also pick up pieces of trash you find along the roads and canals. You can recycle plastics and other non-biodegradable wastes into things you can use for profit. Here are a couple of sites that you can visit if you want to do so:
http://www.designrulz.com/product-design/2012/11/45-ideas-of-how-to-recycle-plastic-bottles/
http://www.earth911.com/recycling-guide/how-to-recycle-plastic-jugs-bottles/
http://www.boredpanda.com/plastic-bottle-recycling-ideas/
At the end of the day it’s really all about disciplining ourselves to help Mother Earth, to ease the burden on her, even just a little. Of course, you can’t force everyone to do the same thing that you are doing in a snap, but you can show them and explain why you do it, and just give them a few friendly reminders. Hopefully they’ll catch the habit and help the environment in their own ways.
So please, please, please. Help our environment, help our planet. Every little action creates a ripple, a chain reaction. We have a chance to set things right, so let’s make things right. Not just for my country, the Philippines, but also for the whole world.