FOR SO many years now, many local government units (LGUs) have been trying to implement waste recycling programs in their own localities, but very few seem to have succeeded.
By the looks of it, many local officials seem resigned to the idea of doing the same thing repeatedly, and expecting different results, which is Einstein’s definition of insanity.
Is it therefore the time now to try something different? So that we could have different results?
Instead of just having one type of garbage truck picking up both biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste materials, why not have two separate trucks to do that, with two separate schedules? That way, the biodegradable waste, which is mostly food waste, could be brought directly to a biodigester facility, where these could be composted and converted to organic fertilizer.
Without the biodegradable waste, it would be easier to sort the non-biodegradable waste, which is mostly recyclables.
Better still, we should make it compulsory to sort or segregate the non-biodegradable waste to paper, plastics, metals and others.
All LGUs are supposed to have their own materials recovery facilities (MRFs) where they are supposed to sort these recyclables into saleable items. If only these materials are pre-sorted, it would be very easy to segregate them.
Will any LGU try it?
TOWARDS A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
The best way to understand what a circular economy means is to first understand first what a linear economy is.
In a linear economy, the products or the wastes of products that enter the market are not returned or recycled back into the production process. In a circular economy however, some of the products or the wastes of some products are returned or recycled back into the production process, thus creating a loop or a circular flow of materials.
Used packaging, used water and food waste are among the most common resources that could be reused and recycled. Some environmentalists are now using the terms upcycled or repurposed, which boils down to the same thing.
Many consumer packages could again be used for packaging and even for construction materials. Used water could even be reprocessed to make it potable again. Food waste could be converted to organic fertilizer.
Perhaps the conversion of food waste into organic fertilizer is one of the best examples of a circular economy, because it enables farmers to again produce new food from waste food, thus paving the way for regenerative agriculture.
Aside from that, it could contribute to soil repair, which could be one of the major solutions for climate change mitigation. It has been proven by science that organic fertilizers can work. So why not promote it?/PN
