ARMM ramps up proper waste disposal campaign

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Officials launched on Monday a campaign to disperse 30,000 garbage bins to promote  waste segregation and recycling in the region.

Kahal Kedtag, regional secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, led the project's kick off rite,  held at Shariff Aguak town in the second district of the province.

Kedtag said the project aims to protect the environment and educate Maguindanao's Moro, Christian, and non-Moro residents about waste recycling and proper disposal.

The region-wide portable garbage bin distribution project of the DENR-ARMM officially started Monday with a “pro-environment caravan” from the regional government center in Cotabato City to Shariff Aguak.

Kedtag said the caravan would eventually cover the cities of Lamitan and Marawi, and the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in Central Mindanao, and the islands of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi,

“This is our way of observing June 2014 as the national environment month,” Kedtag said.

The garbage bins were personally received by the town mayor, Zahara Upam Ampatuan.

Upam said barangay officials in her municipality will help to raise awareness on proper waste disposal and segregation of biodegradable and harmful wastes.

Rural folks in the autonomous region are used to  disposing litter in open fields in their farms and into rivers.

“Some also burn at will their garbage in total disregard of the hazards such practice may cause. This is what we are trying to address and our efforts are supported by the cross-section communities in the autonomous region,” Kedtag said. - John Unson