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Wednesday, December 28, 2016
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THE unrestricted consumption and disposal during this festive season is sure to choke dump trucks and dumpsites to the brim unless we learn to be happy with less and pare down to the essentials.
The specter of a garbage-filled holiday season is real. Bins, lampposts, sidewalks, and street corners again overflow with trash. This will go on forever if we do not tone down on what we consume and throw.
Our insatiable hunger for material possessions, for things that are newer, grander and smarter, is sadly consuming lots of resources and generating tons of discards which, if not properly sorted for reuse or recycling, will end up getting burned or dumped somewhere. To turn the tide against crass consumerism and the garbage it spawns, we all need to pare down to the basics.
Let’s be practical. Here are some tips to minimize wasting during the yuletide season:
* Assess what you have before going to the shop. Check for things that can be repaired, reused, recycled, or repurposed before getting new stuff. Jot down all your holiday needs and take this list when you go to a store to avoid reckless purchase and spending.
* Say no to plastic bags and bring your own bayong or reusable carry bags and containers when you shop.
* Go for quality products that are durable, nontoxic, and can be repaired, reused, recycled, or passed on to other users. Avoid single-use disposable products.
* Shun excessively packed items to cut down on packaging waste, and reuse packaging cartons and other packing materials. Choose gifts with minimal or zero packaging. Use old magazines or newspapers, discarded bandannas or fabric scraps if wrapping gifts is desired.
* Do not throw away bags, boxes and wrappers of gifts received. Keep them neatly stored for reuse next gift-giving season.
* Segregate your non-biodegradable discards for repair, reuse and recycling. Separate the biodegradable discards from your garden, kitchen and parties for composting.
* Keep discards containing hazardous substances such as batteries, lamps, paints, insecticides, and others safely stored and not mixed with regular trash.
* Do not incinerate your discards as this will terminate the resource cycle and lead to the formation and discharge of toxic fumes and residues causing environmental and climate pollution.
Soaring and stinking holiday trash is definitely not the way to observe Christmas and New Year in this era of climate change that is already impacting our lives with all the devastating weather events like the recent typhoon “Nina.”
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