Eco-friendly Brigada Eskwela urged

CEBU, Philippines —  The EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental and health watch group, reminded participants of the weeklong Brigada Eskwela to ensure that school clean up, repair and renovation activities should be done in an eco-friendly manner.

“We laud the yearly conduct of the DepEd-led Brigada Eskwela, which is an excellent expression of the timeless Filipino bayanihanspirit,” said Thony Dizon, chemical safety campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition.

Brigada Eskwela will start tomorrow, May 20.

 Dizon said that stakeholders partaking in this outstanding voluntary effort should 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.

The group also asked poll winners, as well as losers, to “quietly" help in the Brigada Eskwela as a way of thanking the public for their support in the recently concluded midterm elections.

“In lieu of post-election ‘thank you’ tarpaulins, we invite well-meaning politicians to join, without fanfare, school clean-up 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 in a statement.

 Dizon cited the need to observe DepEd D.O. 05, series of 2014, which states, among other provisions, that “every school shall practice waste management principles, such as (waste) minimization, specifically resource conservation and recovery, segregation at source, reduction, recycling, reuse and composting, in order to promote environmental awareness and action.”

To encourage adherence to the DepEd regulation, the EcoWaste Coalition offered some eco-tips such as observing the proper segregation of discards at source to facilitate their recycling or composting, and to minimize the volume of garbage for disposal; use only certified lead-safe paints for school interiors, exteriors, furniture and fixtures, gymnasium, play equipment and other school amenities.

They should also refrain from dry sanding or dry scraping painted surfaces that might contain lead so as not to disperse lead dust into the surroundings and among others.

"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 further said. — MBG (FREEMAN)