HERE’S one good news. The P408-million Passi City Integrated Waste Management Facility located in Barangay Aglalana has started operating. A cluster of towns in Iloilo province will also be using it because they have no such facility – they do not have the financial resources to build one – and they are prohibited from operating hazardous open dumpsites.
In fact, Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act directs the closure of open and controlled dumpsites.
How many local governments not just in Iloilo province but across the country have indeed closed their open dumpsites or controlled dumpsites? Is the National Solid Waste Management Commission monitoring?
As per RA 9003, an open dump is a disposal area wherein the solid wastes are indiscriminately thrown or disposed of without due planning and consideration for environmental and health standards.
RA 9003 further directs the establishment of materials recovery facilities, also known as ecology centers, in every barangay or cluster of barangays to promote and support waste prevention and reduction at grassroots level. Many bureaucrats and politicians remain fixated with garbage disposal through landfills and even waste incinerators instead of implementing robust ecological solid waste management programs anchored on waste prevention, reduction, separation at source, reuse, recycling and composting.
To eradicate dependence on costly garbage disposal facilities, EcoWaste Coalition urged the authorities to carry out community-driven and socially inclusive zero waste resource management program to reduce the volume and toxicity of garbage and divert reusable, recyclable and compostable materials away from cement kilns, incinerators, landfills and dumpsites.
RA 9003 provides for a comprehensive and eco-friendly approach to managing discards mainly through waste prevention, reduction, segregation at source, reuse, recycling and composting, excluding waste incineration.
The law emphasizes waste avoidance and volume reduction through the adoption of best practices in ecological waste management and definitely not open dumping.
The goal is zero waste. Who needs dumpsites if there are no wastes? Waste prevention, reduction, separation at source, reuse, recycling and composting – these are the robust ecological solid waste management programs local governments must espouse.
