Zero waste in Caloocan by 2007?

Caloocan City is quietly working to achieve its vision of becoming a zero waste area by 2007 with the inauguration of yet another material recovery facility (MRF) yesterday at the impounding area of the City Hall on Mabini street.

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico "Recom" Echiverri said the setting up of the MRF is in line with the city government’s effort to effectively manage waste segregation and disposal and in compliance with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003).

The mayor said the mission statement, however, bold and appearing to be a tall order under present circumstances, is certainly doable.

The mayor said there are now 36 MRFs in the city’s 188 barangays and 76 in different schools. He said further that the city government is now institutionalizing Project RECOM (which stands for Revitalizing Environmental Commitment on Managing ecological solid waste) together with the Environmental Sanitation Services (ESS), Division of City Schools, the Diocese of Caloocan and the barangays.

The MRF has for its components an ecology garden, where the compost for biodegradable waste is being made, and an eco-shed or storehouse where "rinsed" or washed non-biodegradable solid waste for recycling (commonly known as scraps or junk) and later sold to factories, are temporarily kept.

Environmentalist Roy Alvarez, Mother Earth Foundation president, attended the simple rites, saying the Caloocan City government is the first among the cities in Metro Manila and the first among local government units (LGUs) in the country to have the MRF right in the city hall premises.

"Napakaganda ng nangyayari sa lungsod ng Caloocan kung saan ang pamunuan ay may konsensiya. Kung paghahambingin, medyo mabagal pa ang aksyon sa ibang lugar," said Alvarez in commending Echiverri’s efforts.