Australian Shames Filipino Politicians By Cleaning Up Dirty Pateros River

It is a shame that the Philippines rivers are so full of garbage. There should be dedicated teams to collecting all the garbage. Instead the Philippines gets dedicated foreigners to clean up their mess. Recently Australian Mike Smith led a ten day clean up and collected 100,000 kilograms of trash.

https://pop.inquirer.net/359187/saving-ph-waters-aussie-citizen-attempts-to-revive-dying-pateros-river

Some of the world’s biggest problems, like trash-filled water bodies, have been a major problem faced by the Philippines. Among the 19 polluted rivers in the country is the infamous Pateros.

A recent viral post on Instagram captured many Filipinos’ attention as an Australian man led the Pateros River cleaning mission.

The cleaning project in the country started a few months back. Headed by Mike Smith, founder of ZeroCo—an Australian company that advocates and markets zero-waste cleaning and personal care products—along with ZeroCo Philippines’ cleanup crew, the initiative aims to save the Philippine rivers before the trash flows into the ocean, living up their mission to ‘untrash the ocean.’

The Pateros is not the only river they cleaned as they already visited several Philippine rivers like the Tanza Marine Tree Park.

Many were amazed and grateful for Smith and urged the Filipino community to support the latter’s content and account, while others expressed that it should be a shame for the locals as they were not able to do the same.

Smith’s company is on a mission to stop single-use plastic and sells zero-waste products. With over 24 million bottles collected in the waters to date, which they turn into refillable ‘forever bottles,’ every single penny they earn goes toward funding large-scale ocean cleanups worldwide.

This is certainly laudable and it is a shame that foreigners have to the jobs Filipinos should be doing. Maybe that is why the Mayor of Pateros, instead of praising Mike Smith and his team, called him irresponsible.

https://mb.com.ph/2024/3/29/pateros-mayor-says-dirtiest-river-cleaned-up-by-aussie-activist-located-in-taguig

Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III clarified that the “dirtiest river” cleaned up by an Australian environmental activist and entrepreneur is located in Taguig City and not in the municipality. 

Australian Mike Smith, founder of Zero Co., led the cleanup for 10 days of what he said was a river located in Pateros. 

“The Pateros in Manila (Philippines) is the dirtiest river I’ve ever seen. Over the last week together with @zeroco.com.au and @thehiddenseawine we removed every single piece of rubbish,” he said in a Facebook post. 

He said he and more than 240 Filipino volunteers removed more than 100,000 kilos of trash  from the river. 

Ponce said the river is located in Barangay Rizal, which is now under Taguig and formerly under the supervision of Makati. In a decision which became final last year, the Supreme Court transferred 10 barangays including Rizal from Makati to Taguig. 

“Actually there is nothing like that in Pateros,” Ponce told Manila Bulletin, adding that this is the reason why the Pateros municipal government posted a clarification on its official Facebook page. 

He added, “You will not see a river like that in Pateros. Now I’m wondering why this Australian Mike Smith said it was Pateros river. This is in the boundary.” 

"The truth is, what they cleaned up was an area in Barangay Rizal which was formerly part of Makati and now under Taguig,” Ponce clarified. 

The mayor said Smith was with Taguig volunteers for the cleanup and Pateros was never contacted about this even the barangay nearest to the river. 

Ponce said what was interviewed were residents of Barangay Rizal, Taguig. 

He said the river that Smith cleaned up was the “Taguig-Pateros river but never Pateros river.”

“I hope these irresponsible statements should be verified first. The problem is when territory is being discussed, takeover and income, it’s about Taguig or Makati. But when waste is being discussed, they throw it at Pateros. This is not right, isn’t it?,” said Ponce. 

Now, this is ridiculous, petty, and blatantly false. Mike Smith did not say he was in Pateros he said the Pateros River was the dirtiest he had ever seen. And there IS a Pateros River. It is not the same as the Taguig River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_and_estuaries_in_Metro_Manila

While the Taguig River joins the Pateros River there is no Taguig-Pateros River. Even if the area he cleaned up was close to where the two rivers join this is just a ridiculous quibbling over words

And to make it even more shameful this Australian is hiring local Filipinos to clean up the rivers. 

https://www.instagram.com/mikesmithprojects/reel/C2ZbqptPxQh/

Over the past few months we’ve been quietly scaling our cleanup operation in The Philippines. We now employ 12 locals on the ground to do cleanups and we’re collecting over 4 MILLION water bottles worth of ocean and river waste every month. Our goal for 2024? 50 MILLION WATER BOTTLES OF OCEAN WATE COLLECTED

Why aren't LGUs doing this? Why aren't they doing more to clean up their own nation? Instead they would rather hoist large banners so no one can see the dirty water ways. It's more than just a shame. It is a dereliction of duty.

Backyard Garbage Burn Pile Becomes Backyard Funeral Pyre

I have documented on this blog how Filipinos love to burn garbage. They simply cannot be bothered to gather all the trash, put it in a bag, and wait for it to be collected. Most of the time the result is simply a disgusting gray miasma hanging in the air and creeping through your window. This time burning garbage resulted in a man's death. 

 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/2/14/octogenarian-dies-in-backyard-fire

An 85-year-old man was burned to death while cleaning his backyard in Barangay Taliba here on Tuesday afternoon, February 13.

Police identified the victim as Sofronio Atienza Marasigan.

Investigation said the octogenarian was burning garbage in his backyard when the fire reached the nearby bamboo trees.

Marasigan attempted to extinguish the flames but lost his balance and fell into the burning bamboo.

He failed to get up and was burned to death.

Firemen put out the fire and found the victim’s body.

This old man was burning his garbage, the fire spread, and when he attempted to put it out he was consumed in the flames. 

Now, of course this is not the normal run of things. This is not usually how sparking a pile of leaves and trash turns out but this time it did. It COULD happen. It's a wonder it does not happen more often. Especially the spreading of the fire. Every single time a trash pile is lit on fire the arsonist wanders away leaving the flames to their own devices. Tragedy is one gust of wind away. 

The lesson is clear. Don't burn your trash!

Picture of the Week: Don't Dump your Garbage here

"Don't Dump Your Garbage Here," reads the sign. How hard is it to not trash up someone else's property? For Filipinos it is incredibly hard. 

That is only one of the many garbage piles around town. 

No doubt everyone who dumped their garbage here looked at the sign and thought, "You can't tell me what to do."

I Stopped A Truck From Illegally Dumping Garbage

While out for a run one recent afternoon I saw a truck filled with garbage pull up next to a local illegal dumpsite. It was very obvious what was about to happen so I whipped out my camera and fired up the video. 

After some hesitation he drove off. 

About a mile up the street are two large trash bins which he must have known about since that is where the driver left his garbage. 

Why do people do this? The garbage truck comes around twice a week. They will even take leaves which deprives those who illegally burn their yard waste of no excuse. Certainly they would take those bags and styrofoam bars.

I am certain the driver knew about these two bins because he did not offload his garbage at the other illegal dumpsite which is just up the street. Of course I could be wrong. But the question remains. Why do these people illegally dump their garbage? And in the middle of the day no less!

Resettling Squatters

This is a picture of a field and is part of an area where the local government is building a relocation site for squatters.

It is also the scene of the horrific rape and murder of a six year old girl by her twenty-four year old neighbor. But more of that later. And who wants more of that later? The fact is the local government is resettling hundreds of squatters way out in the middle of sugarcane country without any plan at all except to get them out of the city. 

Let's begin with this scene.

This picture does not capture the reality it represents. This picture was taken on October 20th, 2020 and shows the accumulation of garbage since 2015 or maybe 2016 when people started moving into this area. I do not know when people first started tossing garbage here but what I do know is that no garbage trucks come this way. There is no garbage collection in this area!

The fact is there is no proper infrastructure at all in this area to support a population. There is no running water or sewage. The electric grid is shoddy and jury-rigged. And there are no roads. Don't let the picture above fool you. There is a small area that is paved but the rest is a muddy and rocky mess.

That is an older picture from February but the point is the same. There is no paved road to this part of the resettlement area. 

Along with the people come their animals. Here is a pig. 

Think of everything that goes with raising a pig and you will being to understand the magnitude of filth that is now in this area. Chickens are there too and that leads to crime.

I was told that other people's chickens had been stolen too but only one man dared to put up such a sign.

The local government is clearing some area and making room for more houses. I thought that they would be building apartments of one kind or another but I was told that they are only clearing lots to sell to settlers who can build their own tin roofed bamboo huts.

It's just going to be a mess.  No running water, no trash collection, none of the amenities that should come with life as provided by the city. They are basically on their own.

This article was originally written in November, 2020. While a bridge has been built and a few roads have been paved everything remains basically the same. The fact is the local government is resettling squatters from the city into the country and have provided little to no infrastructure to support them. The area remains covered in filth, squalor, litter, and is a hotbed of crime. 

Night Trash 10

At some point I stopped taking pictures of night trash because I have too many already. As long as there are stray dogs roaming around at night looking for a meal there will always be night trash.

Broken Fluorescent Lights Tossed in the Grass

I have so many pictures of the Philippines that have been holed up on my hard drive waiting to see the light of day. A lot of these pictures are of trash. It really boggles my mind the way people toss their garbage and I don't mean like a bag of household waste or food. That's understandable sure. It's wrong but I get it. What I will never understand is stuff like this:

That is a large pile of fluorescent lights tossed out on the side of the road. How did they get there? Who has this many burned out fluorescent lights to throw on the side of the road? This is not normal house trash. This is the garbage of an electrician. And he did not just toss them on the side of the road. No, he took his time to hide them behind some tall grass.

It's sad but there is nothing to be done about it except look and document. Eventually someone removed these broken lights but they were replaced with bags of garbage and boxes of empty liquor bottles. In the Philippines the environment just can't win.

Is Waste Management A Human Rights Issue?

I have written quite a lot about garbage on this blog. With there being so much of it clogging the waterways and strewn across the ground, the City of Cebu collected 13k tons of garbage in a recent clean-up drive, it seems there is not much new that can be said about the problem. But here is a totally novel angle on the subject. Proper waste disposal and sanitation is a basic human right. So says the CHR.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1143822

Waste management shows how a country values human dignity as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Tuesday recognized improved efforts in time for the observance of Philippine Environment Month in July.

The CHR likewise lauded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) order to close down some 335 open dumpsites nationwide.

In a statement, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said waste management efforts will not only improve environmental sustainability and health outcomes but will surely contribute to the full enjoyment of basic human rights.

"While national and local interventions during the pandemic are largely focused on protecting lives and economies, management of waste is also essential to minimize long-term risks to human and environmental health," she said.

In shutting down open dumpsites, the DENR enforced Republic Act (RA) No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which provides the necessary policy framework, institutional mechanisms, and mandate for local government units (LGUs) to achieve 25-percent waste reduction through the establishment of an integrated solid waste management plans based on 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycling).

De Guia said environmental degradation can lead to "very serious and continuing violations of our human rights".

"People’s health, food and water safety, housing, and overall well-being can be negatively affected by improper disposal of waste and hazardous materials," she added.

Among the health and environmental risks of illegal dumpsites are the contamination of soil and water, increased risks of natural disasters and health issues, and disruption of wildlife, the CHR said.

"Unlike sanitary landfills, illegal dumpsites do not have built-in systems and constant monitoring for environmental safety," she said.

RA No. 9003 specifically bans the use of open dumpsites for solid waste by any person, including LGUs.

This is in response to the DENR's closing of some 200 open dumpsites across the nation.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1128627

"This is my directive to them: All open dumpsites must be closed by the end of March this year!" he announced Tuesday in a message for the RA 9003's 20th anniversary celebration.

Aside from closing open dumps, he said DENR will help further promote the development of sanitary landfills nationwide, practice of waste segregation at home and improvement of garbage collection.

There'll be house-to-house campaigns as well to promote solid waste management among communities, he noted.

"Yes, we can do it!" he added. "And we must do it! Let us all manage our garbage towards a cleaner, healthier and progressive Philippines."

I know for a fact that not all the dumpsites have been closed because there are several in my area that remain as active as ever. The Philippines has a long way to go in rectifying their garbage problem.

But it is it really an issue of human rights? I don't think so. It's an issue of the social contract nature of the Philippine government needing a major overhaul. The constitution is clear the all political power stems from the people.

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

SECTION 1. The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution/

In practice we know this is not true. Sovereignty does not actually reside in the people and government authority does not actually emanate from them. The people may elect officials but the people do not craft the laws that govern the nation or direct the policy which goes into enforcing those laws. The people certainly had no hand in writing RA 9003. If they did there might not be a provision prohibiting open burning of waste. 

There is also the problem of the people. Can the people violate their own human rights? That would be silly and yet if proper waste disposal is a human rights issue then it seems they are as it is the people who continue to dump their garbage in open dumpsites. Look at this open dumpsite which is actually growing.

Maybe this picture does not show it very well but this dumpsite is getting wider. You can see at the edge of the picture the garbage all along the sugarcane. The people created this mess despite their being signs which said to not dump there. And the government does not care. In fact this dumpsite is just outside the entrance to a village where the government is erecting a huge welcome arch.

The local government would rather spend thousands on trivialities like this arch then fix the garbage issue. That is highly problematic and indicates that the government does not really care about the safety, health, and well-being of the people.

The issue here is not complex at all. The government that the people created needs to enforce the sanitation laws and create the healthy environment that will be conducive to good living for the people. On the other hand the people need to stop flagrantly violating the laws which the government they elected has enacted for their benefit. It is most certainly not a human rights issue. It's a common sense issue. Stop littering and stop tossing garbage on open dumpsites.

The Philippines Is the World's Biggest Contributor to Plastic Pollution

The Philippines is a land of deception. The Department of Tourism tells the world "It's More Fun in the Philippines"and shows enticing pictures of impossibly beautiful and pristine places. But those places are not representative of the Philippines over all. They are anomalies. The sad fact is that so much of this nation is ugly and polluted. The air, the waterways, and the land are all covered in garbage of various kinds. Now the Rotterdam-based Ocean Clean Up has laid bare the truth for all the world to see.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/06/10/news/national/pasig-river-worlds-top-plastic-polluter/1802635

The Pasig River as well as 18 other rivers in the Philippines were identified as among the top 50 polluting rivers in the world, a study released by the Rotterdam-based Ocean Cleanup said.

Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit engineering environmental organization based in the Netherlands that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and intercept it in rivers before it can reach the ocean. It also conducts scientific research into oceanic plastic pollution.

The study found that a quarter of the rivers that were found to be responsible for 80 percent of ocean plastic pollution are found in the Philippines.

The study found the Philippines as the biggest contributor to plastic pollution. Of the 1,656 rivers monitored worldwide, 466 were in the Philippines. Together, the rivers dumped more than 356,371 metric tons of plastic waste annually.

The 27-kilometer Pasig River, which runs through Metro Manila, accounts for 63,000 tons of plastic entering oceans from rivers per year.

The study also said that coastal countries like the Philippines have a relatively high probability of plastic entering the ocean due to various factors, including short distances from land-based sources to rivers and much shorter distances to oceans.

Plastic also flows more easily into rivers from paved urban areas than it does in rivers from forests and travels farther in rainy climates than dry ones.

The researchers also considered the proximity of landfills and dumpsites to riverbanks, finding out that those within 10 kilometers of rivers are likely to spill into them.

The Ocean Cleanup study was released as San Miguel Corp. (SMC), in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), other national government agencies, and Metro Manila mayors, launched its ambitious, five-year plan to clean up and rehabilitate the Pasig River.

The project is set to become the largest river rehabilitation project in the country, with SMC President Ramon Ang announcing that the company's budget for the undertaking is being doubled to P2 billion.

"There have been many cleanup efforts in the past, and government has successfully implemented a number of programs these past few years," Ang said. "But decades of pollution and compounding problems that have rendered the river biologically dead since the 1990s are too significant and complex to overcome - even for the best-intentioned advocates and organizations."

It is rather astonishing that 466 rivers, 25% of those surveyed, on this list are all in the Philippines. You could call it the Philippines' dirty little secret except it's not so secret anymore. It is interesting that the San Miguel Corporation's five-year plan to clean up the Pasig River is mentioned in this article. Why is a private company taking on this task? Becasue Duterte abolished the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, transferring it's powers to the DENR, the Manila Bay Task Force, the DHSUD, the MMDA, and the DPWH. Do you see the problem? Instead of one agency overseeing everything the task was divided up over several agencies who have other jobs to complete than cleaning the Pasig River. Duterte did this because he declared the river uncleanable.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1182766/duterte-to-congress-abolish-pasig-river-rehab-agency

“If Congress is listening, abolish that [PRRC]. There is nothing to clean in the Pasig River. It’s already clean. That’s (already) the state of the art of Pasig,” Duterte said Monday during the oath-taking of newly appointed government officials at Malacañang.

The President lamented that the government is just wasting time and resources with the PRRC which he said “cannot do anything” to revive Pasig River.

“Unless we require every building not only along the river but everybody who has a waste to dump in a sewage or sewerage, nothing will happen. You’re wasting time. You’re paying people for nothing. They cannot do anything,” he said.

This was another one of Duterte's many rash and misinformed decisions. If the river is uncleanable then why would he divide the task to clean it among several agencies? The fact is the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission was formed in 1999 and worked for two decades to clean the river. In 2018 their labor was recognized.

https://interaksyon.philstar.com/trends-spotlights/2018/10/22/136383/award-winning-rehab-of-biologically-dead-pasig-river-how-it-happened/

It took years of cleanup and follow through not often seen in government projects.

On October 16, Australia-based International RiverFoundation recognized the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission’s efforts to restore the notoriously polluted Pasig River, which runs across the national capital Metro Manila.

The foundation rewards “exceptional efforts in the protection, restoration and sustainable management of the world’s rivers.”

The inaugural Asia RiverPrize for the Pasig River beat the Asian Development Bank and Chinese government’s Yangtze River initiatives.

For almost two decades across administrations, the agency launched “quality projects, programs, activities and advocacies in easement recovery, riverbank development, waste and water quality management, and public awareness,” according to a brief released by the RiverFoundation.

The work is far from over, but the PRRC and its partners believe a complete rehabilitation can be achieved, estero by estero.

The commission projects 14 more years for the Pasig River to be alive again. Its 2017 master plan aims to make the river capable of sustaining biodiverse ecosystems by 2032. It should also become a source of livelihood and recreation.

After 20 years of hard work the PRRC believed they could clean up the river, estero by estero.  That means cleaning the river up one area at a time. They also believed this could be done by 2032. Too bad they had no idea that Duterte destroy their work by shutting them down. 

The fact that the PRRC won an award for their hard work in cleaning up the river shows that Presidential Spokesman Roque is a lair.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1143250

Malacañang is saddened that Pasig River has been named as the world’s most polluting river when it comes to plastic waste.

“Nakakalungkot po iyan (That is saddening). That’s not something that we should be proud of,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser on Thursday when sought for reaction. “Dati nga po, meron pa tayong commission just on Pasig River pero wala ring nangyari (There was a commission just on Pasig River before but nothing happened).”

"There was a commission just on Pasig River before but nothing happened." What an outrageous lie. I just showed you that after 20 years the commission's work was recognized. They had a plan and were cleaning up the river piecemeal. Now Roque blusters out "nothing happened." What a profoundly ignorant buffoon he is. And not just Roque. Duterte, the DENR, all of them are deceptive buffoons who think the appearance of cleanliness equals cleanliness.  That is why they are dumping dolomite all over the shores of Manila Bay.

The public has been fooled into thinking that Duterte cares about cleaning up the waterways in Manila because the DENR spent millions to dump crushed dolomite on the shore of Manila Bay. Meanwhile the one body that actually was accomplishing real change, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, was disbanded. It's simply more lies and deceit form the government with the people being the victims. It is because of the deceit and laxity of this administration and past administrations, as well as the nonchalant attitude of the people, that the Philippines has the infamous distinction of being the world's biggest contributor to plastic pollution.

Local Electric Company Illegally Dumps Their Garbage

The Philippines is garbage central. 

"Garbage central" does not mean that the Philippines is an awful place. It's not. It just means there is garbage EVERYWHERE. And it's not just plain old litter. It's makeshift garbage heaps and people not securing their garbage bins which allows dogs to spread it everywhere and many other things like burning garbage. It's on the land, in the water, and even in the air!

Let's just get to the point here. I was out and about and I saw the local electric company tossing their garbage onto an illegal garbage heap. I whipped out my camera as fast as I could but I was not fast enough and only got the following two pictures:

In the first picture they are getting away. In the second picture you can see the heap of wires they tossed onto the pile. 

I wish I had been quick enough to get a video but I wasn't. After the electric company dumped their trash another guy rolled up a cart and offloaded a huge rice bag full of trash.

This guy who lives in the village dumping his garbage on the illegal dump is one thing but the electric company doing it is another thing all together. There is absolutely no excuse for them.

Bacolod Boy's Home is Illegally Dumping Garbage in the Woods

Just outside of Bacolod City is the Bacolod Boy's Home. As the sign says it's a home for orphaned and abandoned boys.

Usually the gates are shut and whatever is happening behind them remains a mystery to the outside world. The boys are probably going to school and growing up learning to become men. Many good men have spent their formative days in this place.

Thirty years later the Bacolod Boys Home has grown and eventually increased the number of orphans served to 200. At present it also provides free basic education to more than 2,000 boys with promising careers. Many of them are now in the Integrated Police Force; Armed Forces of the Philippines, United States Navy, different career path and 10 became priests.

http://www.thenewstoday.info/2008/09/18/the.beginnings.of.bacolod.boys.home.html

It is certainly too bad then that these boys are not learning the best way to dispose of garbage.

I saw two boys cross the street dragging one of those large, round, low, black rubber garbage cans. Immediately I was curious as to what was going on though it was rather apparent. They were dumping garbage in the woods.

Just look at all that garbage. Those boys didn't dump all that trash on the day I saw them. It looks like they only dumped the pile of waste near the top. But seeing how much garbage has accumulated and having witnessed those boys do it once it is more than certain that the Bacolod Boy's Home is illegally dumping their garbage in the woods. In fact the next time I was in the area I saw some boys standing around outside and I asked them if they dump garbage in the woods.  They said yes.

In the center of the picture you can see the garbage can the boys were dragging. This road isn't exactly busy but it is well travelled and by massive sugarcane trucks. What irresponsible guardian told those boys to drag a heavy trash can across the street and illegally empty its contents in the woods? Just look at this guy. Did he tell them to dump the trash in the woods?

What other crazy stuff is happening behind those closed doors in the Bacolod Boy's Home?  I shudder to think.

I have been sitting on this story for a few months. Everything above I wrote back in March. But the other day I was in the area again and decided to take a peep and see if garbage was still being illegally dumped. It is.

That is fresh Christmas garbage. Wrappers from presents tossed out into the woods. Here's a close-up:

The Bacolod Boy's Home is still illegally dumping garbage down the side of a ravine or gully and will likely continue to do so. What a shame.

Sugarcane Growing in a Field of Garbage

 I enjoy observing the lifecycle of sugarcane. Here is the end of that cycle:

Each field is burned after the harvest. But before being burned the field is sifted for leftovers which are used as seeds. These are loaded onto a tractor and then taken away for sorting.

Piles of these seeds are then placed around the field for easy planting. 

These aren't technically seeds but setts. The sugarcane is planted vegetatively which means rather than sowing seeds parts of the stalk are planted. These take root and grow into healthy sugarcane plants. After the field is throughly tilled and manured the setts are then sown and planted.

Can you see what the problem is in this picture? There is garbage in the field. These setts are being sown amongst garbage!

That is plain disgusting. To their credit when the guy who buried these setts came by he did toss the garbage aside. However it was still in the field.

But what are these men supposed to do? It's not their job to pick up garbage and if they did where they put it? I have seen plenty of sugarcane fields strewn with garbage. These are mostly near roads where people simply toss their garbage and the wind and stray dogs spread it everywhere. You have to wonder how healthy the soil is when there is garbage everywhere. Perhaps those who own these fields could employ men to clean up all the garbage. Who wants to buy sugar knowing the plant was was growing in poisoned soil?