Regina George is the only plastic I like

In my previous blog, I mentioned about my participation at the 10.10.10 Run for Pasig River, which is said to be the largest organized run in the world. About 160,000 people coming from different sectors converged at the SM Mall of Asia for one important mission and that is to rehabilitate Pasig River. 

Such activities are good, but I strongly believe that more than exerting effort in the rehabilitation of 'dying' bodies of water, we should focus on how to take care of them. Too be honest, I am quite disappointed with some things that I have witnessed pre and post event. 

We went to Mall of Asia at around 9:00 pm on October 9 as per instructions from the organizing committee of the event to pick up our event staff IDs and the evaluation sheets that we will be handing out to the runners. We were told to proceed to the food booth in front of the IMAX theater and there we found loads of food. AS IN ANG DAMI! It was really an answered prayer for two of my starving friends. There were only about twenty people there, both volunteers and staff from ABS-CBN but there were at least 200 pieces of burger, 140 packs of Tapsilog in 'styro' containers and ten boxes of bottled water and loads of plastic utensils. That was just the beginning of over-flowing food and styro nightmare.

Ten minutes after, a second wave of food in styro containers came in and we were instructed to remove all the food on the table and replace it with the new ones. I was nauseous at that point just seeing all the styro containers. By the time we left the venue, another batch of food packaged in fucking styro containers found its way to the table. It was horrible. And this event, has easily became the most counter-productive event in all possible dimensions. 

I tried to get a close up photo of the table with all the food packaged in styro containers but I reckoned its quite weird and so I just captured a photo from where I was sitting. 

Guys, just so you know, polystyrene aka styrofoam is manufactured from petroleum and is highly flammable. In its production, it uses benzene which is known to be carcinogenic. It takes an incredibly long time to break down in the environment and in a lot of cases, these plastics cause animal deaths when ingested.

By the end of the event last Sunday, this is what I found: 

They may be able to rehabilitate the Pasig River but look at what they have left in the venue. For sure, it will find its way to the canals and eventually end up in another river then to the sea. What? Another fun run?

What I have seen last Sunday brings to mind my experience being a Global Xchange volunteer. In one of our Community Action Days, we have organized a coastal clean up in partnership with Ocean Care Advocates of Shangri-la Mactan. It was in the coastal community of Brgy. Mancao in Mactan Island, Cebu. 

Initially, we were told that we can finish the coastal clean-up in just thirty minutes since we will be doing it while its low tide. Oh but no, when we actually did an ocular inspection of the venue, this is what we found:

Anyare sa thirty minutes? Sure ba kayo na kaya yan in thirty minutes? Di kaya 30 days?

True enough, we were not able to finish it within thirty minutes, not even with the help of the community people. It was just impossible to collect all the trash, segregate them accordingly, and label them. And even if we were successful in cleaning the coastline, for sure, in just a matter of days, the trash will be replenished courtesy of people who indiscriminately throw garbage in the open sea. How frustrating and heart-breaking.

If only this child can teach his playmates not to throw garbage in the ocean.

Global Xchange volunteers and community members helped each other in an attempt to 'clean' the coastal area of Brgy. Mancao.

After two hours of tirelessly picking trash from the coastline, we managed to collect 70 sacks of garbage. You may think thats a lot but its not even 5% of the total garbage we have seen on site.

Would it be more wonderful if we just start segregating our trash, lessen our consumption of plastics, and start recycling?

AND I CHOSE TO END WITH A SAD PICTURE.