A non-partisan green group criticized Monday the immense littering at the People Power Monument in Quezon City with various candidates’ promotional materials, plastic posters, and Styrofoam food containers that were left after a campaign rally in the area last Sunday.

As the campaign period is about to end, the EcoWaste Coalition reiterated its call for candidates and their supporters to keep their rallies clean.

It noted that a rally led by the Liberal Party and was attended by thousands of supporters at the People Power Monument left tons of garbage in the rally site last Sunday.

An on-the-spot inspection by the EcoWaste Monday morning, which was prompted by a radio report, found portions of EDSA Highway and the White Plains Avenue littered with yellow confetti, various candidates’ promotional materials, plastic posters and Styrofoam food containers.

The group also found yellow ribbon lanterns that were left hanging around the People Power Monument.

Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) foreman Eduardo Fonto, who was on site to supervise the cleanup, told the EcoWaste Coalition that dozens of personnel took part in cleaning up the mess.

The campaign discards were then hauled to the MMDA base along Julio Vargas Avenue in Pasig City.

“We are worried that the same sorry sight will get repeated in countless rallies being planned by national and local politicians as the lively campaign for elective posts wraps up this week,” said EcoWaste president Roy Alvarez.

“We ask all aspiring public servants, regardless of their political persuasions, to lead by example and ensure that their remaining campaign sorties and their grand miting de avance will not degrade the environment with trash,” he added.

“For the sake of the public health and the environment, please enforce a zero tolerance on litter in your political activities,” Alvarez pointed out.

For a cleaner miting de avance, the EcoWaste Coalition has proposed the following steps; shun throwing confetti, exploding firecrackers or releasing balloons; refrain from using Styrofoam, plastics bags and other single-use items for the volunteers’ meals and drinks; set up sufficient number of segregated waste bins for biodegradable and non-biodegradable discards in the assembly area; designate “eco-volunteers” to look after the bins and guide the public in the ecological  management of discards; engage and pay for local waste pickers to ensure the recycling of segregated discards; clean up right after the event; and do not dump or burn campaign discards.

“We remain hopeful that all sincere candidates will heed our call for waste-free rallies and do their share in safeguarding the health and wellness of our communities from preventable sources of pollution and disease,” Alvarez said.