Group wants to ban ‘banderitas’

MANILA, Philippines – A group promoting zero waste and chemical safety urged church and community leaders to forbid the hanging of fiesta buntings or “banderitas.”

The EcoWaste Coalition said the buntings have no aesthetic, functional or spiritual value and could pollute the oceans and harm marine animals.

Aileen Lucero, a coordinator of the coalition, said they are deeply concerned by the “unrestrained practice of filling the streets with banderitas that are hardly reused or recycled after the revelry,” referring to the decorations set up in Pandacan and Tondo for the Feast of the Sto. Niño tomorrow.

She said many of the buntings used “new ultra-thin plastic bags,” which are easily blown away into storm drains and end up in oceans, killing aquatic animals that mistake them for food.

Even the United Nations has spoken loud and clear in favor of phasing out or banning thin film single-use plastic bags to arrest the growing problem with marine litter, Lucero said.

The EcoWaste Coalition also scored the use of colorful polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic sheets in buntings because they are laced with toxic metals such as lead.

If hanging buntings cannot be altogether avoided, the group said the materials used should be recyclable or reusable.