Green groups renew call for ‘trash-less’ Traslacion

Bearing the iconic white towel and placards calling for cleanliness, green groups on Thursday reiterated their annual call for a "trash-less" Traslacion, days before the procession notorious for leaving tons of waste along its Manila route every January 9.

"Trash-less" Traslacion advocates include nonprofit organizations EcoWaste Coalition, Buklod Tao, and the Quiapo Church-based Green Brigade Committee, members of which gathered before the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene Thursday morning for a program and a parade.

Themselves devotees of the Black Nazarene, the church group will represent the "thousands" of Traslacion attendees who will clean up directly after the projected million-strong crowd.

LOOK: Green groups led by the EcoWaste Coalition renew their call for a trash-less Traslacion, days before the annual procession that invariably leaves tons of waste from devotees in its wake. | via @nclagrimas pic.twitter.com/7KFJpEGUI1

— GMA News (@gmanews) January 4, 2018

This is according to Daniel Alejandre, a zero waste campaigner for the EcoWaste Coalition, who also called on the devotees to refrain from littering, smoking, spitting, and urinating in public on the day of the procession.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) collected 341.9 tons of garbage in the days preceding and directly following last year's Traslacion, almost twice as much as 2016's 172.29 tons.

For January 9, 2017 to the morning of January 10, 2017, the MMDA said it had collected 69.43 tons of trash, twice as much as 2016's 34.86 tons recorded in the same 24-hour period.

Alejandre said the bulk of Traslacion waste consists of plastic bags, sticks, and leftover food, which could clog of drainage systems and invariably result in flooding in Manila.

"Religious festivities should not exacerbate Manila's garbage situation," the green groups said in a statement.

The groups also said they had requested the Manila local government to "deploy environmental police to dissuade devotees from littering and to ensure compliance" to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which penalizes littering in public places.

In their statement, the environmental groups reminded devotees to:

• Follow Luneta's "no littering, no smoking" regulation;
• Refrain from smoking or vaping as an "act of penance"
• Return used beverage and food containers and waste to givers or vendors for proper disposal;
• Desist from spitting and urinating in public and in a PET bottle; and to
• Bring a reusable cloth bag, instead of paper or plastic variants, for "pasalubong"

— MDM, GMA News