Bayombong night market showcases effective waste management

Talk of a public market and you immediately think of piles of trash and the stench of rotting waste. If you expect to see that in Bayombong’s night market, think again.

This wet market in Bayombong is clean and dry.

The town of Bayombong in Nueva Vizcaya is justifiably proud of its night market, established in 2005, which is today a showcase for effective waste management.

There is no trash on the floor, no unpleasant smell, only containers for segregated waste that everyone uses properly. The market, across the municipal hall, is open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Many residents now prefer to do their marketing at night; it has become a pleasant experience.

Getting the vendors clean up their act was no lark; they were used to dumping everything on the floor, including wastewater. It took some time for them to appreciate waste management. But the local government of Bayombong was determined to get it done as they were seriously implementing a 10-year Solid Waste Management (SWM) Plan, with full assistance from USAID’s Philippine Environmental Governance (EcoGov) project.

A strategy for effective waste segregation was drawn up by the LGU’s SWM technical working group and the Economic Enterprise Office that is managing the market, assisted by EcoGov’s technical people. A waste flow was designed and the market was divided into sections, each one with properly marked disposal sacks for three types of wastes — biodegradable, recyclable and residual. All vendors within each section were collectively responsible for disposing their waste properly, using the sacks.

An intensive orientation program for the vendors was conducted, with nightly meetings after market hours supported by an information and education campaign. A dry-run period followed, during which the waste stream was documented and monitored; the segregated receptacles inspected; and various issues and concerns noted and promptly acted upon. Positive results were noted within weeks of formal enforcement.

The daily assessment showed that the market produced about 1,000 kilos of biodegradable waste - mainly rotten fruits, vegetables and coconut husk, six kilos of recyclables and 54 kilos of residual waste. With waste segregation working efficiently, they have achieved close to 95-percent waste diversion; only five percent of total market waste has to be taken to the dump-site. This translates to big savings in garbage collection costs and minimizes health risks posed by huge garbage piles.

Bayombong is now looking at replicating the night market experience in the older public market and all over the municipality.