Environmentalist group Eco- waste Coalition on Saturday urged participants in the Brigada Eskwela program to ensure the school cleanup, repair and renovation activities are done in an eco-friendly manner.
Brigada Eskwela is an annual week-long school maintenance activity initiated by the Department of Education to help ensure that public elementary and high schools nationwide will be ready in time for the school opening.
Teachers, parents, pupils, civic groups, volunteer and even police and military personnel picked up brooms, paint brushes, washed walls and started cleaning the surroundings and classrooms in public schools nationwide.
“We laud the yearly conduct of the DepEd-led Brigada Eskwela, which is an excellent expression of the timeless Filipino bayanihan spirit,” said Ecowaste chemical safety campaigner Thony Dizon.
“As stakeholders partake in this outstanding voluntary effort, we urge them to avoid practices that tend to generate more trash and pollution such as mixed waste disposal, open burning and dumping, and the use of leaded paints and hazardous cleaning agents,” he added.
The group also asked winning and losing candidates to “quietly” help in the program as a way of thanking the public for their support in the recently concluded midterm polls.
“In lieu of post-election ‘thank you’ tarpaulins, we invite well-meaning politicians to join, without fanfare, school cleanup activities or donate Brigada Eskwela essentials such as brooms and broomsticks, dust pans, rags, soaps, buckets, non-mercury LED lamps, and lead-safe paints,” Dizon said.
The group offered the following eco-tips for the cleanup, which are also in line with government policies and regulations.
• Observe the proper segregation of discards at source to facilitate their recycling or composting, and to minimize the volume of garbage for disposal;
• Do not set trash on fire to prevent the generation of environmental pollutants such as fine particles, heavy metals and dioxins;
• Compost biodegradable discards such as yard trimmings to produce natural fertilizer or soil enhancer for the school garden;
• Clean up the school’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), also known as Ecology Center, including the containers or segregators for properly-labeled recyclable and compostable discards.
• Choose safer cleaning agents and refrain from using hazardous substances that are corrosive to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract such as oxalic and muriatic acid;
• Use only certified lead-safe paints for school interiors, exteriors, furniture and fixtures, gymnasium, play equipment and other school amenities; and
• Refrain from dry sanding or dry scraping painted surfaces that might contain lead so as not to disperse lead dust into the surroundings.
“The observance of these eco-tips will help ensure a waste-free and toxics-free Brigada Eskwela for the benefit of the entire school community and the environment,” Dizon said.