Virgilio Estuesta has picked through trash in the Philippines' biggest city for four decades, and is noticing an unusually large amount of ...
Waste picker Virgilio Estueta, 60, walks with his cart filled with trash amid the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, Jul 7, 2020. MANILA: Virgilio Estuesta has picked through trash in the Philippines' biggest city for four decades, and is noticing an unusually large amount of plastics during his daily trawl of about 15km.
to combat a surge in daily COVID-19 infections are squeezing income for the 60-year-old, as many of the junkyards and businesses in Manila that buy his recyclables have been closed since March.Plastic items, such as bottles and containers, dominate the contents of the rickety wooden cart Estuesta pushes through the deserted streets, far more than metals and cardboard, yet the money they bring in is not enough to get by.
Environmentalists say the Philippines is battling one of the world's biggest problems stemming from single-use plastics, and ranks among the biggest contributors to plastic pollution of the oceans. It has no reliable data for its plastics consumption.Greenpeace campaigner Marian Ledesma said consumers and businesses are now using yet more single-use plastics, in a bid to ward off virus infections.
"The pandemic has really increased plastic pollution," she added."Just because there's a lot more people using disposables now, due to misconceptions and fears around transmitting the virus." Since Mar 16, Manila has experienced lockdowns of varying levels of severity, in some of the world's longest and tightest measures to curb the spread of the virus."When you go out, the police will reprimand you," he said."I was stuck at home and had to rely on government aid, which was not enough. I had to resort to borrowing money from people."
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