ADB offers grant to help solve MM waste problem

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is offering a $1.25-million technical assistance grant to help address the garbage problem in Metro Manila.

The grant, which requires a counterpart fund of $550,000 from the Philippine government, will be administered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as the executing agency.

"It is vital that the garbage crisis be resolved," Tom Crouch, ADB director for the Philippine Country Office (PhCO) said.

The grant is aimed at critical issues involving solid waste management and improving environmental quality and public health. The amount will be taken from ADB’s Asian Currency Crisis Support Facility (ACCSF) funded by the Japanese government.

The ACCSF was established in March 1999 to help countries like the Philippines deal with Asia’s currency crisis.

The technical assistance package will help plan, design, and strengthen an integrated solid waste management system for Metro Manila. The package will assist in conceptualizing closure designs for uncontrolled dumpsites.

"The situation has potentially severe and widespread public health, environmental, and economic consequences, and represents a considerable threat to Metro Manila," the ADB said in a statement.

Crouch noted that Metro Manila is suffering from insufficient solid waste disposal facilties with the closure of several dumpsites. An estimated 6,000 tons a day of refuse is being diverted to uncontrolled open municipal dumpsites, burned illegally, or dumped in vacant land areas and waterways here in Metro Manila and in neighboring provinces.

Likewise, the ADB noted that medical wastes have increased to alarming levels. An estimated 12 tons of medical waste daily coming from Metro Manila’s 713 hospitals and clinics are putting public health in jeopardy, it said.

The ADB director paid special attention to the urban poor whom he described as being particularly susceptible to poor health conditions due to their heightened exposure to decomposing waste in high-density environments.

While taking note of the progress the National Government has achieved with the passage of the Clean Air Act and the Solid Waste Management Act as concrete steps in the right direction, the bank felt it necessary to extend assistance to hasten progress in these areas.

"The technical assistance will provide immediate on the ground assistance, while focusing on the achievement of longer-term sustainable solutions," the ADB added.