FEATURE | DEVCOM
Liberating Gaea: Iloilo City’s Journey to Sustainability Written by Mdpwn. Franzesca Mari B. Bautista Photos by Mdpn. Jayland E. Singuillo and
Mr. Raynald Cabatbat
10 THE DOLPHIN | UNRAVEL
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Iloilo River Esplanade
he’s beautiful. Her eyes were as blue as the sky; hair as golden as the sun. Her skin was as clear as water; lips covered in blood. Her name was Gaea. Alas, she had been beautiful. Waves were crashing, the wind was howling—Gaea was angry. Her waters have been flooded with waste. Her children have been killed: sold for their flesh and banished from their homes. Her air has been tainted with fumes. Her earth has been depleted of its resources: trees were cut and mountains were flattened. Her kindness was reciprocated with betrayal. Money reigned supreme—Gaea’s home was a paradise no more. According to an article by Eco-business, the Philippines generates 2.7 million metric tonnes of plastic waste per year. This massive sum of plastic waste has declared the country as the world’s third-biggest polluter. In detail, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) reports that Filipinos generate 59.7 billion pieces of sachets, 17.5 billion pieces of shopping bags, 16.5 billion pieces of plastic labo bags, and 1.1 billion pieces of diapers annually. Despite the drastic amount of plastics generated globally, most of these are single-use in nature. It is estimated that only 9% of 8,300 million tonnes of produced plastic was recycled. The rest are either,
