Ecomanagement creates green jobs

This refers to the news article titled “No funds, lots of trash in towns facing charges” (Front Page, 2/15/16).

The Philippines has one of the most beautiful laws on solid waste management in the world, if only it is properly implemented. This is the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (Republic Act No. 9003), which was signed into law on Jan. 26, 2001, with Sen. Loren Legarda as its principal author and sponsor.

A decentralization law, RA 9003 devolves solid waste management down to the smallest unit of government, the barangay. It can be implemented with the full support of the municipal or city mayor. It mandates source segregation, segregated collection, segregated waste destination and the establishment of a materials recovery facility (MRF) in every barangay or in a cluster of barangays.

The MRF is the heart and soul of ecological solid waste management. It employs a low-cost, low-tech local system. It calls for a massive information, education and communication campaign in the community, action planning by the leaders, and the installation of systems for carrying out such undertakings.

RA 9003 also mandates that salaried barangay ecoaides collect the segregated waste from every household in the barangay, using pushcarts, pedicabs or minicabs, whichever may be applicable.

The collected segregated biodegradable waste and clean and dry recyclables are to be temporarily stored in the MRF and managed properly as resources. The biodegradable waste is turned into compost, using compost pits, windrows or vermiculture. It can also be used as animal feeds or biogas for energy. The recyclables are sold to junk shops for recycling.

Residual waste (e.g., sachets, candy wrappers, diapers, plastic bags, plastic wrappers, food wrappers, straws, Tetra Paks) and special waste (e.g., flashlight batteries, busted light bulbs, cell phone batteries, expired medicines, cans of paints, pesticide bottles, and electronic waste) must also be collected and stored in places designated for residual waste and special waste in the MRF. Constituting about 10-20 percent of the total waste, these should be the only ones collected from the MRF by the garbage trucks for disposal. There will be no house-to-house collection of residual and special wastes by the trucks.

Zero-waste model communities prove that for ecological waste management, local governments do not need expensive, high-tech and harmful waste disposal technologies like landfills, incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities, the latter using pyrolysis, gasification, plasma arc that destroy much needed resources, cost hundreds of millions of dollars and are end-of-pipe solutions.

Mother Earth Foundation’s zero-waste model communities are Barangay Fort Bonifacio, Taguig; Barangay Potrero, Malabon; Barangay Concepcion, Malabon; Barangay Neogan, Tagaytay; Barangay Sicat, Alfonso, Cavite; San Fernando City, Pampanga.

The ongoing projects are in Nueva Vizcaya and Batangas City.

—SONIA S. MENDOZA, chair, Mother Earth Foundation,  sonia.mef@gmail.com