EDITORIAL – Waste segregation, Part II

Yesterday, we talked about how the segregation of waste is good but that implementation of the initiative in the Philippine setting, where the vast majority of the people simply do not have the means to comply, can be quite tricky, if not virtually impossible in the larger sense.

Today, we offer a proposed solution, because we honestly believe segregation of waste is good and that everything must be done to ensure its success, even if the larger part of the initiative must eventually be borne by only a few.

Because we feel the greatest stumbling block to a successful implementation of this good initiative is the inavailability of the means for the poor to comply, then we feel the government and those in the private sector who can afford it must join hands to provide them the means.

For instance, barangay officials can solicit big empty drums from private companies located within their respective jurisdictions and set up segregated waste collection centers in as many areas as possible in their areas.

Private individuals can be asked to donate unused plastic shopping bags to their barangays for distribution to those who cannot afford to buy regular garbage bags to facilitate better segregation of waste.

To make this initiative more acceptable to the usually non-compliant Filipino, the barangay officials can make the effort more fun and profitable by devising means to earn or make use of what is being collected.

The idea must be conveyed that there is money in segregated waste, not the kind to make anyone an instant millionaire and uproot him from an environment of squalor to surroundings that are clean and green, but enough to, say, pay to have concrete flooring for the basketball court.

Because people who earn only 35 pesos a day cannot be blamed if the only thought that preoccupies their mind is finding what food can be bought with such miserable income, effort must be made to bring them on board the initiative not individually but collectively.

It is pretty certain that barangay officials can devise their own brilliant initiatives to generate enthusiasm for the segregation law without making it appear as an impossible imposition on the poor.

Again, the poor make up the most crucial element if ever this initiative is to succeed because it is they that are most hard-pressed to comply, given their other and far greater concerns that have to do with their own immediate survival.