Ecowaste Coalition Calls for Safe and Non-Hazardous Chinese New Year Celebration to Usher the Year of the Wooden Dragon

January 8, 2024, Quezon City— As the Chinese-Filipino community prepares to herald the start of the year of the Wooden Dragon, Ecowaste Coalition, a toxics and zero-waste watchdog, calls for a safe and non-hazardous celebration of the revelry through lessening litter and usage of firecrackers and fireworks. 

Ecowaste Coalition emphasized that the Chinese-Filipino families’ celebration of the Chinese New Year need not cause grievous bodily harm, as well as hazardous waste and pollution by choosing substitute noisemakers instead of using firecrackers and fireworks. 

“Aside from the noise pollution and the risk of physical injuries and residual garbage, firecrackers emit a variety of hazardous pollutants that can affect the air quality and trigger health problems, especially for children, pregnant women, elderly, and those with underlying medical conditions” Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, Ecowaste Coalition. 

Lucero also recalled that the Coalition did a chemical screening in 2011 on assorted firecrackers bought by the group street vendors in Divisoria, Manila, which were found to contain significant quantities of barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, and zinc. None of the firecrackers screened provided information about these chemicals and their health impacts.

According to information obtained from the Department of Health’s website, exposure to the abovementioned chemicals is harmful to health. Cadmium can irritate the respiratory tract and damage the liver and kidneys; chromium may cause skin damage and hypersensitivity, nasal mucosa ulceration, and nasal septum perforation; copper dust fumes when inhaled may irritate the respiratory tract; lead may affect the blood, and the brain and central nervous system; manganese dioxide fumes can cause lung irritation, pneumonia, muscular pains, and tremor; and that zinc can cause metal fume fever.

“The non-use of firecrackers and fireworks during the New Year revelry will protect the community member’s constitutionally guaranteed rights as well as help in upholding important environmental, health, and animal protection laws such as the Clean Air Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Clean Water Act, Climate Change Act, and the Animal Welfare Act”, Lucero emphasized.

Underscoring the role of the grassroot communities in leading a gentler and safer celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year, Lucero added: “We call on our barangay and local leaders from all sectors to act as one in promoting alternative merrymaking that will protect life and the environment.”