What households can do to cope with the Metro garbage crisis

Ten days into year 2001 and the government has yet to provide a dumpsite for Metro Manila’s garbage. As a result, mounds of garbage have started to appear on the streets and continue to pile up on a daily basis.

With no definite solutions yet being presented, the government has started to revive the campaign of segregation and recycling at the household level.

The Metro Mayors Council in a recent meeting agreed to implement the waste reduction program which would be enforced strictly to cope with the current situation.

A very basic method was suggested by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority that may be easily implemented in the household level.

Unlike the original system used by the MMDA a couple of years ago wherein garbage was supposed to be separated into four different bags according to its classification, what was proposed was the use of plastic only two plastic bags.

What is required basically is to separate garbage into two different types: biodegradable and non-biodegradable.

Biodegradables consist primarily of food wastes of all types from leftovers to bones, skins of fruits, garden wastes such as leaves and grass and animal waste.

Preferably, what the waste managers and environmentalists propose is to subject the biodegradables to the method of composting in order to effectively reduce the volume of garbage that would be going to the final disposal site.

For households that have backyards or gardens, what is needed is only a small portion of the lot where the garbage would be placed.

The following is a step-by-step plan introduced by the MMDA in 1999:

• Dig a pit about two feet deep and two feet wide. Set aside the soil for covering the layers of compostable waste to be put inside the pit.

• Cut up the larger pieces of waste such as fruit skins first and grind the bones before dumping them all inside the hole. It is important to make certain that no part of non-biodegradable wastes are mixed with the biodegradables.

• Cover the waste with a thin layer of soil. Ensure that the soil is always moist or moderately wet but not soggy. During period of rain, protect the hole from gathering too much water to prevent leaching.

Follow steps two and three for every layer until the pit is already full.

• Place a small diameter perforated vertical pipe into the compost pile to allow air to circulate.

• Wait for the compost material to mature, a process which normally takes around six to eight weeks. In order to find out if the material is mature, dig up a small portion of the upper layer and once the compost already looks like soil, the procedure is complete.

• Remove the compost and use as plant fertilizer or as top soil.

For households with limited land areas, the MMDA suggests the use of pails or other similar containers as an alternative.

Non-biodegrabdables such as plastic bags, water bottles (PET bottles), paper, sachets, straw, ceramics, ashes, film negatives diapers and sanitary napkins should be placed inside a separate container for disposal.

It is advisable to separate the items that may be resold to the junk shops and the recycling firms such as paper and bottles from the other non-biodegradable items.

White paper such as used bond paper should not be crumpled and contaminated with any liquid from the wastes.

Separate the PET bottles from the glass bottles while leaving them clean to prevent odor.

The recyclable items may be sold directly to the junk shops or to the eco-aides (bote-dyaryo boys) which pass by regularly to the households.

Toxic substances such as used and diapers should be separated from the rest of the non-biodegradables as much as possible.

At the very least, all of the solid wastes should be segregated according to the two classifications in order to facilitate the job of the scavengers and waste sorters at the transfer stations and dumpsites.

The country’s solid waste managers have been pointing out that the current garbage situation should serve as an eye-opener for the residents of Metro Manila.

With an average of almost 6,000 tons of garbage generated daily in the metropolis, the figure of which is constantly increasing, a serious effort should be made now by the residents in order to reduce the volume.

Potentially, if all of the dry-recyclables are collected at the source, a reduction of 47 percent of the volume of garbage would be in effect.

However, based on a 1997 study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, only six percent of the garbage is actually being recycled in Metro Manila daily.