Where does our garbage go?
That’s a good question to think about after Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur’’ Abalos Jr. disclosed that only 1,107 out of the 1,634 local government units (LGUs) all over the country have access to sanitary facilities.
“More or less, 500 LGUs do not have access to sanitary landfills. Ang tanong, saan nila tinatapon ang basura (The question is: where do they dispose their waste)? My guess is as good as yours,” Abalos said in a recent news report on Jan. 28, 2024.
A troubling thought for those living in Metro Manila, about 14 million by now (13.482 million in the 2020 census) is that the DILG Secretary had also expressed concern over reports that 20 percent of the 61,000 metric tons of garbage produced in the country daily comes from Metro Manila.
The concerning part of that statement is not only that 20 percent of the country’s daily garbage comes from Metro Manila, but that the daily garbage we all produce – the whole country – is 61,000 metric tons.
This is a major environmental concern which needs to be addressed and cannot be dismissed as a passing problem. Thousands of metric tons of garbage a day should have a specific sanitary facility for proper disposal.
Abalos is pushing for the “active collaboration between local government units (LGUs) and national government agencies’’ to address the waste management problem. Improper waste disposal will cause other problems such as air pollution due to burning, or the pollution of water sources.
The problem was one of the issues discussed during the Waste and Water Summit which was initiated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in partnership with the DILG held last Jan. 26, 2024.
Strengthening linkages and cooperation among the DILG, DENR and the LGUs is vital in solving this problem.
Republic Act no. 9003 of 2020 or the Solid Waste Management Act provides “for an ecological solid waste management program, creating the necessary institutional mechanisms and incentives, declaring certain acts prohibited and providing penalties.
The principal author of that law, Senator Loren Legarda, has often said that ecological solid waste management should be a way of life. “We have a very good law but effective implementation rests in the effort of everyone.”
Legarda has advocated a whole-of-community effort to solve the garbage problem, starting with every household implementing a waste segregation habit. There should be one trash can for biodegradable and food waste; one trash can for recyclables or residual waste; and another for special or hazardous waste, busted lamps, radio and cellphone batteries.
The barangay collects the segregated waste for proper waste management. Local leaders from the provincial, city and municipal levels down to the barangay are tasked to implement the law. But it all starts at the source of the garbage – the household.
Let’s do our part in reducing garbage. And let’s be interested in where exactly our garbage gets disposed. Ask your city officials.