Despite the directive of the DILG for candidates to help local government units and the DPWH in removing campaign materials, the job was largely done by barangay officials and the DPWH personnel beginning Thursday last week.
It was too much for the DILG to expect candidates, especially those who lost, to spend whatever left of their funds to remove the tarpaulin posters they installed during the campaign.
In this island province where vote-buying forces the candidate to literally empty bank accounts, mortgage properties and borrow money against future earnings just to survive and win, the disappointed loser would not spend some more to remove his own posters.
In the same vein, the Commission on Elections should consider banning the use of tarpaulin posters, which are non-biodegradable and further add to the plastic garbage now floating in our rivers, lakes and seas.
In the 2019, DILG reported, a total of 168 tons of campaign materials were collected.
Just how many of these were plastic tarps were not mentioned but we can be sure that a considerable portion either ended up polluting the sea, got thrown away or were buried in the temporary dumpsite.
Virac MENRO-designate Andy Po says that the tarpaulin posters will be reused as bags at the public market but this is only true in the capital town and covers only those tarps that are more or less intact.
The reuse and recycling of the plastic posters is also being pushed by the EcoWaste Coalition, who recently appealed to both winning and losing candidates to find ways to prevent their publicity materials from ending up in oceans, furnaces and the ocean.
“Dumping and burning campaign materials will be a huge waste of resources, including energy, consumed in making the seemingly incalculable number of posters, leaflets and other popular paraphernalia used for the May 2022 national and local polls,” said national coordinator Aileen Lucero. “It will further result in environmental pollution.”
Admitting that reusing and repurposing is not a perfect solution, especially for campaign materials laden with harmful chemicals, it will no doubt lessen the volume of trash that is collected and hauled to disposal facilities, or get spilled into the natural environment, including water bodies, she added in a recent statement.
In addition to decreased garbage volume, reusing and repurposing campaign materials will reduce disposal costs, prevent releases of chemical pollutants into the environment, conserve resources and instill environmental awareness and responsibility among our people, the coalition stated.
According to the group, paper-based campaign materials can be creatively reused or repurposed, with sample ballots turned into instant notepads and cardboard posters were cut to make bookmarks, envelopes, folders, name plates and other school needs.
Polyethylene plastic posters can be reused as book and notebook covers while the sturdier polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic tarpaulin posters are cut and sewn into carry bags of various sizes, aprons, organizers and waste sorters.
Tarps can also be repurposed as awnings or canopies for homes and stores, upholstery material, and as a protective shield against sun and rain for jeepneys, pedicabs and tricycles, the group said.
While requiring candidates to pay an environmental fee for the use of tarps as campaign posters could lessen post-campaign trash, it certainly does not eliminate its pollutive threat to the environment.
As the EcoWaste Coalition has suggested, the Commission on Elections should strongly consider a ban on plastic tarps and posters and, instead, require the use of recyclable, non-toxic campaign materials in future elections.