Trash talk

Long has our country been struggling with the perennial garbage problem. Anywhere you go, you see garbage either strewn along the streets or piled carelessly on the side, with all sorts of pests rummaging in wild abandon. A few months after the tragedy that befell Payatas several years back, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the Ecological Waste Management Act. This bill seeks to address the worsening garbage problem as a result of rapid urbanization. By instituting mechanisms of waste minimization, resource recovery, appropriate collection and transport services and environmentally-sound treatment and disposal, our country may be able to arrest the escalating garbage situation.

In numerous instances, we have seen the destructive results of poor refuse management in our highly urbanized areas. Uncollected garbage thrown into waterways or dumped in the streets have often caused even more disastrous environmental problems. Air, water and land pollution continue to threaten the health of our country’s population. Many tangible benefits have been realized with the approval of the bill. The Department of Public Works and Highways, for example, has been able to cut down its annual expenditures previously allotted to unclog our waterways of plastics, cans and bottles. Our local government units have also been able to save on their expenses spent on garbage collection. The national government, too, was able to realize savings on health care expenses. Quite deservedly, a documentary by the United Nations Conference in Human Settlements (HABITAT II), released previously, cited our country’s effort to fight pollution, particularly in solid waste management, as one of the best practices in the world. A major contributor to this endeavor is the Metro Manila Resource Recovery Program, spearheaded by Mrs. Leonarda Camacho of Metro Manila Balikatan Movement.

To sustain the progress already achieved, our government has even tapped non-government organizations (NGOs) to assist in efforts to realize set objectives. Linis-Ganda, also headed by Mrs. Camacho, has been assiduously helping our government in collecting and recycling garbage back to paper and steel mills and plastics/glass factories for many years already. Through their tireless efforts, Linis-Ganda has been able to contribute millions of pesos to the underground economy annually. The few hundred pesos earned by eco-aides, garbage collectors, bodega helpers, drivers and junk shop owners have been used to buy food and other basic commodities, thereby contributing to our country’s economic growth. This is a perfect example that national progress cannot be achieved without environmental considerations.

The Ecological Waste Management program only goes to show that if we, as a nation, really put our hearts and minds into doing what we have set out to do, there can be no limits to what we can achieve. No doubt, our country has already made tremendous gains in this battle against pollution, albeit still lacking. Let us continue to build on it and nurture it and perhaps, someday, our country can be as clean and progressive as Switzerland and Singapore.