10-POINT Eco-GUIDELINES FOR POLITICAL PARTIES AND CANDIDATES

Kudos to Ecowaste Coalition for coming up with the guidelines presented below:

10-POINT GUIDELINES FOR POLITICAL PARTIES AND CANDIDATES

TO PREVENT AND REDUCE CAMPAIGN WASTE

1. Designate a lead team in the campaign structure that will be tasked to prevent or reduce campaign waste to zero or darn near in all campaign activities.

2. Target zero tolerance on garbage in all campaign meetings, sorties and related activities.

• Keep the campaign litter-free.
• Shun throwing confetti, exploding firecrackers or releasing balloons in campaign events.
• Refrain from using Styrofoam, plastic bags and other single-use containers for volunteers’ meals and drinks.
• Set up segregated waste bins for biodegradable and non-biodegradable discards in campaign assemblies.
• Designate “eco-volunteers” to look after the bins and guide the public in the proper separation of their discards.
• Clean up right after the campaign event.
• Hire a local waste picker to pick up segregated wastes from campaign venue for recycling/ composting.

3. Refrain from using excessive campaign materials such as leaflets, pamphlets, posters, stickers, decals, streamers and other campaign paraphernalia.

4. For election propaganda materials: to include a friendly reminder that says “Para sa ating kalusugan at kalikasan, huwag pong ikalat, itambak o sunugin” or its equivalent in local languages.

5.  Avoid the use of specific campaign materials such as tarpaulin and other plastics as their
disposal has been environmentally problematic.  

6. Use post-consumer recycled paper for campaign materials to conserve trees and protect our forests, watersheds, and ecosystems. To make recycling easy, avoid using plastic-coated paper.

7. Stay away from campaign materials that are hardly reused or recycled such as confetti, buntings and balloons. These are often burned or discarded in storm drains, esteros, rivers, seas and dumps.

8. Reject grafitti or vandalism, or the willful or malicious defacing or destruction of property.

9. Harm not the trees: spare the trees of election campaign materials. Use designated common poster areas.

10. Win or lose - remove election campaign materials from all sites immediately after the election day on 14 May 2007.