The environmental junks of Christmas

It is well-known that the Philippines has the longest and merriest holiday season in the world. As early as Sept. 1, we’re already lining up parties, reunions, office gatherings, parlor games, school Christmas parties, barangay pageants, and gift exchanges for family, friends, and workmates. And because we want to give something to everyone we love, we end up buying online, where everything feels cheaper, faster, and just one click away.

But our festive habits come with a price we don’t always notice. Online parcels pile up with layers of packaging we don’t often question. Like bubble wraps, plastic mailers, cardboard boxes inside more plastic. Christmas is not just about red and green anymore, it’s also about black and white, the common colors we often see from online shopping packages. I once bought a single makeup on Tiktok (because it kept popping in my For You page) and it arrived like it was a sacred relic, bubble-wrapped, foam-padded, taped, then sealed in another plastic mailer. It shrunk my heart the moment I opened it and felt extremely guilty of these unnecessary layers of packaging. And the plastics even looked as though it would take years and years for them to be completely dissolved.

The sad part is that all this trash doesn’t disappear with the garbage truck. It travels farther than we expect … into canals, rivers, shorelines, and eventually in the middle of the ocean.

I’ve seen it firsthand, again and again. Last year in Mabini, Batangas, while preparing for my free diving session, a floating Zest-O pack suddenly drifted right in front of me. It was almost symbolic, as if the ocean itself was trying to get my attention.

This October in Baler, while I went for surfing but got cancelled due to the bad weather, I noticed coastal trash scattered along the beach, and what stood out the most were the empty Coke bottles washed ashore. It’s the same kind of trash I would later see again in the Maldives when I went for surfing in the North Atoll. Imagine that: the surfing beaches of Aurora and the beaches of a world-class island paradise carrying traces of the same problem.

And in Caramoan last year, during island-hopping, the shorelines told the same story. Flip-flops abandoned by someone, junk food wrappers faded by the sun, and plastic condiment sachets left to decompose for decades. Caramoan is a popular production site of the “Survivor” TV show series and yet it is not spared.

I also remember seeing a floating plastic sando bag years ago when I was on a ferry boat from Mindoro to Batangas. And to think that the Verde Island Passage is found somewhere there, which is often dubbed as the center of the marine biodiversity in the world.

The government has begun taking steps through the Extended Producer Responsibility Act, which requires big companies to take responsibility for the plastic they produce. It’s a hopeful move, but progress is slow, and not everyone is covered. Meanwhile, the trash keeps finding its way back to us, sometimes literally at our feet, sometimes floating right in front of our masks underwater.

This Christmas season, maybe we can soften our impact while celebrating hard. We can buy more mindfully, ask sellers to use less packaging, support brands that reduce waste, and reuse what we can. This small shifts, but meaningful ones, can make a huge impact. Especially in a season this long and generous as ours.

Maybe the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and other government agencies concerned should also act on this matter and remind online sellers to be more responsible through clear guidelines and stronger accountability policies. They should also create more campaigns to increase awareness, especially on mindful consumption and proper waste disposal. And beyond that, the government should actively support local companies that are innovating in recycling and circular solutions. They should also support and encourage local researchers and universities to explore our own natural fibers such as pineapple, banana, and abaca as sustainable materials for eco-friendly wrappers and packaging. Another plant to explore is water hyacinth, which is often viewed as a cause of flood due to its invasive growth in drainage systems and waterways such as Pasig River and Laguna de Bay. This plant has natural fiber that can be turned into a sustainable, eco-conscious material. This benefit will not only transform an environmental waste into a value but also help control flood-prone ecosystems.

Our love for Christmas shouldn’t come at the cost of our natural environment. The places where we swim, walk, and find peace deserve more than becoming the final stop for our holiday leftovers.

At the end of the day, the real change needs all of us moving together.

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Teresa May Bandiola is an academic pharmacist, YA author, medical activist, podcast host, and a newbie travel vlogger who actively promotes local destinations.