WASTE NOT. The Candis 3 Marketing Cooperative in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, recently conducted ecological solid waste management training for village leaders to control and manage plastics introduction in marine environment. (Photo courtesy of EcoWaste Coalition)
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan -- Village leaders in this city attended an ecological solid waste management (ESWM) training session to prevent garbage from polluting marine protected areas.
Bonifacio Tobias, project manager of the Candis 3 Marketing Cooperative (C3MC), told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Saturday that the implementation of the ESWM at the barangay level is essential to prevent the destruction of marine areas due to accumulated plastic waste.
The first session was held in Barangay Maryugon on Sept. 18, covering 50 participants from eight barangays in Puerto Princesa City, Tobias said.
Two more training sessions covering 12 more barangays with 175 participants were held in Barangays Santa Monica and Napsan on Sept. 19 and 20, respectively.
The training was organized by C3MC as part of a biodiversity conservation project to control and manage “plastics introduction in marine environment” or PINE.
It is supported by the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Municipal Waste Recycling Program (MWRP) that is aimed at “identifying and scaling innovations to improve municipal waste recycling in Asian countries that generate that largest amounts of ecological solid waste – Sri, Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.”
Tobias added the training program is in collaboration with the Quezon City-based EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental health group that advocates zero waste and toxics-free society.
“We have gathered our community leaders in the hope of assisting them in identifying gaps, as well as solutions in the way discards are currently managed by our barangays,” he said.
Tobias said it is part of the C3MC’s project on “Mitigating Threats to Marine Protected Areas through Reducing and Recycling Solid Waste Materials.”
He said through the strengthened implementation of ESWM at the barangay level, they hope to prevent garbage, particularly plastic waste, from being carelessly dumped into rivers and seas and causing harm to the marine ecosystems.
Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, said in a separate interview that the ESWM training is relevant amid the plan of the city government to erect a waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration facility in Barangay Sta. Lourdes, where Puerto Princesa’s landfill is also located.
She said the energetic enforcement of ESWM at the barangay level will result in greater environmental awareness and responsibility among residents and will lead to the decreased generation of garbage through enhanced segregation of waste materials at the source, recycling and composting.
“With the least amount of garbage being generated by households, institutions and business establishments, who would need a quick-fix incineration-based disposal technology?” she asked.
Rey Palacio, also of the EcoWaste Coalition, underscored the need for barangays to constitute functional Barangay Solid Waste Management Committees and for them to have adequate Barangay Solid Waste Management Plans to achieve “zero waste” under Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
“Simply put, zero waste means materials get reused, recycled and composted instead of being thrown away, dumped, burned or wasted,” he said in the statement.
Small group discussions helped the participants reflect on gaps in current waste management policies, practices and to identify solutions that will avoid the generation of waste at the point of generation while improving waste diversion.
Waste diversion, as defined in RA 9003, refers to activities that reduce or eliminate the number of solid wastes sent to waste disposal facilities, such as landfills and incinerators.
Activities contributing to a higher percentage of waste diversion include segregation at source, “no segregation, no collection,” reusing, recycling, re-purposing, composting, and other waste prevention and reduction regulations and techniques, including clean production, Palacio said. (PNA)
