DID YOU know that January is “Zero Waste Month”?
It is so by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 760, signed in 2014 by then President Benigno Aquino III. The proclamation promotes designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials. It also aims to conserve and recover all resources, instead of indiscriminately disposing or burning them.
Zero waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and a visionary to guide for people to change their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use.
Sadly, 10 years since the Presidential Proclamation No. 760 was signed into law, toxics and wastes still exist. We must work together by implementing and promoting toxics and wastes reduction programs, especially at the community level. Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 was enacted to adopt a systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste management program which shall, among others:
* ensure the protection of public health and environment;
* utilize environmentally-sound methods that maximize the utilization of valuable resources and encourage resource conservation and recovery;
* set guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction through source reduction and waste minimization measures, including composting, recycling, re-use, recovery, green charcoal process, and others, before collection, treatment and disposal in appropriate and environmentally sound solid waste management facilities in accordance with ecologically sustainable development principles; and
* ensure the proper segregation, collection, transport, storage, treatment and disposal of solid waste through the formulation and adoption of the best environmental practice in ecological waste management excluding incineration;
The Act also mandates local government units (LGUs) to have a 10-year solid waste management plan that is consistent with the national solid waste management framework. LGUs shall divert at least 25% of all solid waste from waste disposal facilities through re-use, recycling, and composting activities and other resource recovery activities and the waste diversion goals shall be increased every three years thereafter.
Zero waste is an ecological way to reduce our toxic and waste pollution problem. We need to institutionalize environmental awareness among citizens and integrate ecological conversion into our hearts.
