EDITORIAL — The real trash problem is on foot

The Cebu City Council is asking traffic authorities to conduct random checks on jeepneys to see if these public utility vehicles are complying with City Ordinance 1537 which requires them to have trash cans on board.

The council is making the move not so much out of suspicion that jeepneys may not be complying with the ordinance but out of some fear that without trash cans, jeepney passengers may throw their trash outside the vehicles and end up clogging canals and other waterways.

There is no denying that there are indeed unconscionable jeepney passengers who throw their trash outside these vehicles even if there are in fact trash cans on board. But these passengers are very few to make a difference in the overall urban trash nightmare.

The honorable councilors who are requesting these random checks clearly do not know what they are dealing with. The last time they have taken a ride on jeepneys, if ever, was probably ages ago. Otherwise, they should know people are in jeepneys to ride, not throw trash.

And it is plainly difficult for jeepney passengers to throw their trash outside because of the presence of other passengers. This is because there is a social bond that ties passengers in a jeepney to one another, a sort of companionship dynamics.

A person perceived as likely to throw waste outside, maybe because he is eating or has some disposable article in his hand, is immediate transfixed by stares from fellow passengers, stares that go from face to hand to face again. It is made plain to him that he is being watched.

In other words, the potential culprit is placed on the spot even before he has committed any infraction, shaming him before the act, making him so uneasy he is forced to use the trash can on board or keeps the trash in his possession until he gets off.

Once he gets off, that is a different problem altogether and should be the real focus of the city council - how to enforce all ordinances pertaining to garbage disposal. What trash is thrown off jeepneys is too insignificant to clog waterways. The real problem is on foot.