Cleaning up

On Saturday morning I joined an inspiring Clean up the Philippines event; one of many small events taking place across the world as part of the global Clean up the World campaign. The Manila event I participated in was organised by another Aussie volunteer and involved children from a shelter, local scouts, high school students as well as community volunteers. The kids were split into teams and competed to see who could collect the most garbage. In just 2 hours we collected mountains of waste most of it of plastic wrappers and plastic bags. It was a great day and amazing to think that it all started with one man wanting to clean up Sydney Harbour.


Unfortunately it is going to take a lot more Clean up the Philippines days and a massive public awareness campaign to even begin to address the waste issues this country is facing. This was illustrated during the prize ceremony; huge billows of smoke from burning rubbish wafted past as the kids were awarded their prizes. Despite national laws outlawing the practice, most people here get rid of their rubbish by burning - toxic plastics and all! And the amount of rubbish produced is just staggering. Everything here seems to be sold in individual packages- you can buy individual shampoos, individual laundry sachets and even individual mentos candies. All very convenient but it produces a lot of waste. The concept of reducing packaging and cutting back on plastics seems yet to enter public consciousness. I have been on my own personal crusade saying no to plastic bags... and had a great moment last night when the shop assistant in my local convenience store recognised me and said "No plastic bag Mam". Anyone else read The Tipping Point?!