Trash talk

By Marifi Jara

If the government were to prosecute all the local officials around the country who have failed to do their administrative duties in implementing the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, the Office of the Ombudsman would be trashed in heaps of cases. Nay, the files would be up to their necks in Pangasinan alone!

This law, contained in Republic Act 9003, was signed in 2000 by GMA, one of her first major moves as president. It was hailed as a landmark decree because it addresses the much-needed system for managing the mounting solid waste of this ever bulging country.

Basically, the law calls for waste reduction at source, waste segregation, a segregated disposal system, and an overall waste management system within localities. At the forefront of this integrated operation are supposedly the local government units. In fact, by February last year, municipalities, cities, and/or provinces should have already put up their respective sanitary landfills. That means more than one year ago, no more household anywhere in the Philippines should be burning, burying in pits, or worse, indifferently throwing their garbage at the most convenient corner.

But the well-intended RA 9003 — like many, many laws here in Pinas — has proven to be rather tough to implement. And our local government officials are not solely to blame for the continued unsystematic and non-comprehensive garbage disposal system in many areas.

Aside from financial constraints and limitations in technical knowledge, our local officials are really hard-pressed for support from the general populace.

A major education-information campaign is needed to make people realize that every bit of trash counts.

RA 9003 actually begins at the household level when it speaks of waste reduction and segregation at source. It is a call — no, a mandate — for every home, every person, to consciously try to minimize rubbish.

There are simple ways, really, to do this. Avoid using non-biodegradable materials such as styrofoam. If you must, find means to re-use it before finally throwing it away. Actually, we must re-use and recycle everything possible, especially plastic bags. Bring your own plastic bags when going shopping in the wet market or anywhere else. Better yet, let’s bring back the use of native baskets or the bayong! It does not just have to be environment-friendly and practical, it can also be fashionable!

To segregate trash at home, maintain three separate sacks (you can buy these cheaply from grains retailers): one for glass containers, one for plastic, and another for cans. When the sacks are full, bring them to the junk yard where these are bought per kilo at, well, very minimal rates really, but, hey, the contribution to the environment is invaluable.  

Segregating waste between biodegradable and non-biodegradable is still a futile effort at this point, unless the barangay, town or city already has in place a segregated waste disposal system wherein garbage are actually collected and dumped separately. And that should be in every local government’s agenda now.

There have been success stories such as Barangay Lucero in Bolinao and Barangay Bued in Calasiao (more on these later). The feats of these areas are a testament that while the Solid Waste Management Act is difficult to implement, it is not impossible.

Remember that old government-produced commercial with the slogan “Basurang itinapon mo, babalik sa ‘yo” and ending with the scene of a mound of trash being carried by floodwaters back into the home of a family who has been indiscriminately throwing their waste?

The garbage issue is a time bomb waiting to explode in our faces. Let’s disarm it now.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/)

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