Caloocan waste management drive pays off

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico "Recom" Echiverri’s goal of making the city a zero waste area by next year received a big boost when it was ranked second among local governments in terms of compliance with Republic Act 9003, or the Solid Waste and Ecological Management Act.

Echiverri said the city government’s efforts to strictly comply with RA 9003 paid off after it was rated 63.26 percent compliance rating last March 30.

He said that the accomplishment improved his administration’s attempt of achieving its objective of making Caloocan City a zero waste area by 2007.

Echiverri said he advocates waste segregation as the waste management system in the city more than incineration and landfill as these processes were harmful to the environment.

He said that segregation is the most effective waste management process as it reduces the garbage being disposed of by residents through recycling and re-use.

According to the Echiverri, incineration or burning of garbage has bad effects in the air while landfills or burying mixed garbage is not good to the soil.

He explained that these systems destroy the natural balance of the environment for chemicals in garbage tend to blend with air and soil.

The mayor said this is the reason why he pushed for the construction of material recovery facility (MRF) in different areas in the city.

The MRF, he said, systematically separates wastes and finds another use for it through its two components, the ecology garden and eco-shed.

Biodegradable wastes like left-over foods were brought to the ecology garden where compost were being made while bottles, plastics and other non-biodegradable trash were taken to the eco-shed or storehouse where rinsed waste for recycling and selling to factories were being kept temporarily.

To instill among the young residents the effective waste management, the mayor recently awarded 16 schools in the city that complied with RA 9003 in line with his Project RECOM or Revitalizing Ecological Commitment on Management of solid waste.

Echiverri said that prior to his administration, Caloocan was the second lowest ranking local government unit in terms of compliance with RA 9003.

The mayor said that apart from Caloocan, among the top-rating RA 9003 compliant cities were Marikina, Muntinlupa and Quezon City. – Pete Laude