Waste Management That Works

Garbage or waste is the natural by product of human activity. From Cave dwellings of prehistory to the most modern cities of today, garbage or waste has always been present.
Cave dwellers disposed of their wastes by either burning to provide heating or by throwing off a cliff or into a deep hole some where in the cave. The type of garbage modern humans produce can no longer be burned or thrown off some where.

The enactment of the Republic Act 9003, better known as the Solid Waste Management Act OF 2001 mandated cities and municipalities in the country to enact a solid waste management program.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources provided the guidelines for the implementation of the the Act.

Long before the act was promulgated, the city of Dumaguete already had a solid waste management program being implemented. The visible sign of the implementation of the program were the green, yellow and red garbage bins that one could find around the city. Houses and business establishments were required to produce their own bins. Businesses who would apply for a business permit every January or any time during the year would be required by the Business Registration office to bring their bins for inspection. With out the colored bins, a stores business permit would not be renewed. Employees of the CENRO would do spot inspections around the city to find out if offices had the colored bins. But the program had a very obvious flaw. Garbage was segregated at source, but when these were being collected, these were all lumped together. So segregation at source was just a waste of time. After a while this was corrected by color coding the garbage trucks. Wastes from green bins would go to the green truck. Red bins to the red track and so on.

At the city dump, one would would not smell any offensive odors typical of any garbage dump. The city even established an aviary within the garbage dump site. Different kinds of birds were placed in large cages. Families would go to the dumpsite to see the birds. The Banika river, flowing nearby, no longer had that bad smell. The city garnered accolades from organizations that saw the program as successful. The program did not cost millions to implement.

Early this week I was at Mati, Davao Oriental. I happened to pass by the public market. Three men on trisikad were going around collecting market wastes – vegetable cuttings, fish wastes, bones- practically any type of vegetable, animal or fish waste.

I inquired from a stall owner where the men were taking the wastes. She told me that the market had a composting facility somewhere at the back portion of the market complex. The men were taking the market wastes there for composting. The vendor added that the compost was being sold for P200 per sack, and the market vendors association had a share of that.

Since the men were only collecting organic waste, I asked what happened to the numerous plastic bags, glass containers and other types of waste a typical market generates. The vendor revealed that they would put all other types of waste in one place – segregated according to type, and scrap buyers would come to purchase these waste material for recycling. I would have wanted to visit their composting area but didn't have the time.

From the looks of it, Mati did not spend millions for that waste management program at the public market.

I just hope that Mati would be able to sustain the implementation of this program.
Dumaguete and Mati are small urban centers. They have small annual budgets. The scarcity of funds has made them find ways to come up with innovative methods in the implementation of their solid waste management program.

To paraphrase E.F Schumacher in his book – Small is Beautiful- “Scarcity of resources does not hamper the flow of innovative ideas in the attainment of a better life. In fact, this limitation has encouraged innovation, and fueled success.”

This is not case with Davao City's Solid Waste Management Program. The way it is being implemented will not guarantee that garbage will be collected efficiently and then properly recycled.

Would Davao City legislators and administrators be prudent enough to reexamine the current solid waste management program before this becomes a run away project. So much money being spent on a program whose goals could possible be unmet.