Middle and high-income households have high compliance with waste segregation

MANILA, Philippines - Even before the passage of Republic Act (RA) 9003, commonly known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, Belle Villanueva’s family has already been seriously engaged in waste segregation right at their own backyard.

Villanueva, 53, a resident of Barangay Phil-Am Homes in Quezon City, said all eight members of their household, including two helpers and a driver, are actively doing their part in segregating the waste they produce.

“Even the kids here are trained on where to put used paper, cardboards, bottles and stuff. We provide bins and containers for specific type of waste so they know where to put or throw it,” she said.

Villanueva added: “Residents here have assumed responsibility for the garbage they produce even before the Smokey Mountain ‘trash slide.’” It was on July 10, 2000 when a typhoon that ravaged parts of the Philippines caused the huge garbage dump in Payatas, Quezon City to collapse.

Villanueva, being part of the Solid Waste Management Committee in Barangay Phil-Am, is very active in environment programs launched for the community.

The Villanueva family belongs to the 70 percent of residents of Barangay Phil-Am complying with RA 9003. The law, signed on Jan. 26, 2001, calls for the institutionalization of a national program that would manage the control, transfer, transport, processing and disposal of solid waste in the country.

“Compared to other barangays, compliance of residents with waste segregation here is relatively high,” said Jose Diaz, chairman of Barangay Phil-Am.

More space for segregation

He said one significant factor in adopting a system for waste segregation is that families here have more space where they can sort out their waste. “They have helpers who they can train on what to do with dry and wet waste, where to put these types of waste, including kitchen waste,” Diaz added.

He also mentioned that trainings on proper waste segregation are also being conducted in the barangay so that residents are made aware of how they can handle their waste properly.

Diaz said house helpers are instructed to put kitchen waste in pails and bring this to the barangay’s eco-facility center once the container is already full.

“These kitchen waste are later converted into fertilizer using our composting facility,” the barangay captain added. The fertilizer is sold afterward, thereby earning funds for the barangay.

Given the rate of compliance in his area of jurisdiction, Diaz said it just shows that middle- to high-income families do have high compliance with waste segregation.

The barangay captain himself is setting a good example to his constituents by also seriously practicing waste segregation right at his own home, with different containers assigned for different types of waste.

Barangay compliance

LEG Hauling Services Corp., which is into collecting garbage in Quezon City’s District I that includes Barangay Phil-Am, noted that they conducted a perception survey to assess the compliance rate per barangay.

“Barangays with above 70-percent compliance rate are middle- and high-income households as noted by our campaigners who usually conduct a five- to 10-minute orientation on households’ stay-in helpers,” said Escarlita Montellano, head of LEG’s Technical and Planning Division.

Montellano added that “out of 37 barangays, 15 barangays have low compliance rate and these are mostly low-income households.”

LEG said these households have been complying since they are being motivated by local laws such as the city ordinances on garbage.

“The residents are also motivated by the positive effects of doing proper waste segregation. Knowing that their efforts will result in having a clean, orderly, healthy and productive environment, one will observe there are no more unsightly garbage cans in the streets, no more foul-smelling piles of uncollected waste,” Montellano said.

LEG has been a service provider in the field of garbage collection and disposal in Quezon City since 2010 after they were awarded a contract through public bidding.

In the case of OMNI Hauling Services, Inc. which serves District III of Quezon City, it noted that about 83 percent of the district’s total population has been complying with the waste segregation scheme of the city government.

“Most of them belong to the high-income bracket of society. Majority of the residents here strongly support and strictly implement the city’s environmental programs and ordinances,” said Lorraine Tabelisma, OMNI project development officer.

Incentives

Tabelisma said that apart from being law-abiding citizens, households in barangays in District III are also motivated by the monetary incentives given by the city government especially if they themselves initiate and directly administer their own solid waste management programs.

Ordinance No. SP-1191, S-2002, provides incentives to all barangays utilizing their own trucks for solid waste collection service in their respective areas while Ordinance No. SP-1203, S-2002 grants incentives to barangays with best solid waste management practices.

“These serve not only to encourage barangays to develop all the more their sense of commitment and responsibility concerning the city’s garbage problem but also develop their financial capability to implement other projects and improve delivery of basic services to the residents,” Tabelisma said.

An October 2011 Quezon City Household Survey conducted by SMART Research Services Inc. showed that out of 311,375 household respondents, 240,969 or 80 percent are doing waste segregation. 

The survey also noted that 278,896 or 93 percent of the total households surveyed are aware and abide by the ordinances on solid waste management passed by the city government.

Romano Rios, chief of the Solid Waste Management Office under the Environment Protection and Waste Management Division (EPWMD) of Quezon City, admitted that at first, they had a hard time convincing residents, particularly barangay heads, to start implementing programs on waste segregation in their respective areas.

“But eventually they started cooperating especially when ordinances on garbage, particularly on waste segregation, were passed,” he said.

City Ordinance No. SP-1707, S-2006 requires the segregation at source of all household, institutional, industrial and commercial waste and/or garbage into wet or biodegradable and dry or non-biodegradable, pursuant to RA 9003. Rios agreed with Diaz that compliance with waste segregation is high in the city’s subdivisions. “It’s easy to campaign for the environment in these areas since they take it seriously. House helps do a lot for them in segregating waste, and that they have space where they can do this properly,” he said.

Role of house helps

Villanueva, who is a homemaker and a nutritionist, admitted there is a difference when a household has helpers or none at all. “They (house helps) can do much of the work. But of course, you first have to train them where to put the different types of garbage. At first, it was difficult but I just have to keep reminding them on what to do, including segregating items that can be recycled.”

She, however, pointed out that once you get to adopt a system in handling wastes properly, it will then be easy for all of the household members to follow.

Section 21 of Article 22 of RA 9003 provides for the “mandatory segregation” of solid waste. “The LGUs shall evaluate alternative roles for the public and private sectors in providing collection services, type of collection system, or combination of systems, that best meet their needs: Provided, that segregation of wastes shall primarily be conducted at the source, to include household, institutional, industrial, commercial and agricultural sources.”

Specifically, Section 22 refers to the requirements for the segregation and storage of solid waste. “The following shall be the minimum standards and requirements for segregation and storage of solid waste pending collection: (a) There shall be a separate container for each type of waste from all sources: Provided, that in the case of bulky waste, it will suffice that the same be collected and placed in a separate and designated area; and (b) The solid waste container depending on its use shall be properly marked or identified for on-site collection as “compostable,” “non-recyclable,” “recyclable” or “special waste,” or any other classification as may be determined by the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC).”

The NSWMC is tasked to oversee the implementation of solid waste management plans and prescribe policies to achieve the objectives of RA 9003. It is composed of representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Health, Department of Trade and Industry; Department of Agriculture, Metro Manila Development Authority, League of Provincial Governors, League of City Mayors, League of Municipal Mayors, Association of Barangay Councils, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Philippine Information Agency. It also has representatives from the private sector; a representative from non-government organizations whose principal purpose is to promote recycling and the protection of air and water quality; a representative from the recycling industry; and a representative from the manufacturing or packaging industry.

(To be continued)