Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — As the dust settles after the New Year festivities in Metro Manila, mounds of trash are left to greet the residents of the city in the first day of the year.
In what is a challenging start to the government’s Zero Waste Month, the waste collected on the first day of the year more than doubled its average.
On an average, city cleaners collect approximately 15 truckloads of garbage per day, but on January 1, an estimated 33 truckloads or almost 500 tons of trash were collected.
Environmental group EcoWaste Coalition decried the lack of discipline among revelers to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste.
“After all the holiday shopping and partying, we find our household bins bulging at the seams and the streets strewn with garbage waiting to be swept away and hauled to the dumpsite,” said EcoWaste Coalition Coordinator Aileen Lucero.
“Worst, we see this dreadful trashing of the environment happening on the first day of the annual Zero Waste Month in January. This is ironic and totally unacceptable.”
The group has also called on the government to strictly enforce the National Solid Waste Management law.
CNN Philippines’ Gerg Cahiles contributed to this story
