Documentary Practice & Photojournalism: Hannah Reyes Morales
See a selection of images from Hannah Reyes Morales.
Caption
Slide 39 of 165
Cities Made of Water
December 5, 2017
As dawn breaks, Nestor and his sons load bags of plastic, metal, and paper junk onto his boat anchored off of the shore of San Andres, Isla Verde. He goes around Isla Verde and other nearby islands on his outrigger boat, collecting junk materials such as hard and soft plastics, paper and cardboard, and scrap metal, everything from discarded toilet bowls to rusted engines. Once he has scavenged enough, he brings the junk across the Verde Island Passage to Batangas City to sell to a recycling plant or junkyard. A ton of trash sells for around 30-50USD, and takes about a month to collect. The Philippines is the 3rd worst plastic polluter in the world, and its ineffective waste system leaks 74% of collected plastic waste back into the ocean. In an archipelago country that is more water than land, everything we use, and throw away, returns to the sea.