Bottom feeders

Years have passed since the enactment of environmental laws particularly RA9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. The law is almost seven years old and yet its simple purpose has not yet been fully achieved. One basic purpose of RA9003 is the simple segregation of waste commonly generated in the household. Information campaigns and implementing guidelines have been set and yet the desired result is not visible. Looking into the surroundings will prove it. Litters indiscriminately thrown anywhere, despite the impending environmental issues, shows the lack of discipline of the people. In this kind of society, a bright future of nature is vague. Unknowingly, a group of people unnoticed are bringing hope to the future generation. They are the BOTTOM FEEDERS.
Bottom feeders are those, out of poverty, dig the dirt and profit from repugnant things. They are those seen along the streets digging every trash can for plastics, bottles or anything that can be sold in the junkshop or that can be reused. For them, it is their fate- to live in poverty, survive from garbage, be mocked as outcast and be treated as bete noire by fortunate ones. It is their means for survival. But behind those dirty clothes and stinky smell, the nature treasures them more that gold and silver. They are treasures of Mother Earth because they fulfill the responsibilities that the fortunate people cannot fulfill. They lessen the emission of methane gas and other greenhouse gases by saving those things that could have been burned in the dumpsites. They put those mess in their proper place and use. Unfortunate they may say, they are an important people in this kind of undisciplined society. What they do may just be little things but in the eyes of future generations it is a heroic act.