What this teaches us is that waste management is a local distributed
problem and that solutions need the same structure. The more we
deviate from understanding just that, the more likely abnormalities
will occur. Inducing individual effort nicely collapses the end
costs.
Even better, this shows us that these protocols can be applied
universally.
So much human capital has been expended on the urban environment, it
has been forgotten that best practice will evolve to the urban
agrovillage which retains sufficient human and financial capital to
optimize its life way.
From Dream to
Reality in the Philippines
Sunday, 02 December
2012 10:28
By Anne
Larracas and Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives,
“Environmental
Possibilities: Zero Waste” features new ways of thinking, acting,
and shaping government policy that are circling the globe. Each week,
we highlight a success story in the zero waste movement, excerpted
from a report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator
Alternatives (GAIA). GAIA is a powerful worldwide alliance of more
than 650 grassroots groups, non-governmental organizations, and
individuals in over 90 countries. Their collective goal is a just,
toxic-free world without incineration. Other Worlds is excited to
promote the work of GAIA and the organized communities it works with,
and hopes that the stories inspire you and others to begin moving
your home, town or city, nation, and planet toward zero waste.
The city of Alaminos
is pioneering zero waste in the Philippines with an energetic fusion
of bottom-up planning and community participation. Under a new law,
the public and all levels of government share responsibility for
managing waste. Villages, local officials, and non-profit allies are
working together to meet the law’s goals. They have created
composting systems and sorting facilities, and almost eliminated open
burning and dumping as a result. The outcome has been stunning:
whereas in 2009 almost every city dumping field had a pile burning,
there were almost none two years later. With sky-high waste
separation and composting rates, Alaminos has become a trend-setter
for other Filipino cities.
Planning for the
Future
As is typical for a
fast-growing city, non-biodegradable packaging and products have
become a part of everyday life in Alaminos. In recent years,
non-recyclable products have spread, their problematic effects
compounded by a large tourist population that brings in and disposes
plastic packaging. Until recently, waste was managed almost wholly by
municipal governments that typically hauled all waste to a central
dumpsite.
In 2000, the
Philippines passed a waste management law, known as Republic Act
9003. According to the law, the publicly elected councils of all the
39 villages in Alaminos City must implement a comprehensive solid
waste management plan. The law also mandates that each village
construct a recycling center, separate garbage, create a village
composting system, and collect different types of waste separately.
Furthermore, the law outlaws open burning and uncontrolled dumpsites.
Regardless, waste
management programs at the village level in Alaminos - as in most of
the country - were still non-existent by 2009. Attempting to make its
villages conform, the city of Alaminos first tried encouraging, and
later mandating, that they take more responsibility for waste
management. Neither approach worked. Alaminos still maintained a
central dumpsite, and waste was collected by the city only in 14 of
the 39 villages. The remaining villages had to deal with their own
waste, which led to widespread open burning and dumping. Households
did not practice separating their refuse into organics, recycling,
and trash. The city still rarely used the recycling center that it
had built in 2004.
It became clear that
the city needed to redouble its efforts and to spark community
involvement and excitement in order to achieve success.
The Birth of a Zero
Waste City
In August 2009, the
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) proposed a
partnership with the city government. The following month, the Zero
Waste Alaminos project was born. GAIA provided one staff member for
the project team, zero waste trainings, and support to village
leaders as they drafted their own waste management plans. GAIA also
provided financial support for printing educational materials, buying
shredders for organics and plastics, awarding mini-grants for
villages to build eco-sheds and purchase vehicles, and more. For its
part, the city provided two full-time employees, transportation
for the team, logistical support for all activities and trainings,
technical assistance, and support in strategic planning for the
villages.
After two years, ten
villages had achieved full compliance with the 2000 waste management
law. Five were very close. Many others were well on their way. The
zero waste team had launched rapid-fire initiatives to create these
results, including: conducting a comprehensive survey to assess the
existing waste management practices throughout Alamitos, traveling to
all 39 villages where they interviewed village chiefs, and holding
workshops for village representatives and city officials to begin
conversations about waste separation and collection, composting,
relevant law, and the components of the Zero Waste Alamitos project.
After the workshops,
the team held 14 months of technical consultations and assemblies in
the villages themselves. They resulted in a complete waste management
plan, including a calendar of activities, investment plans for
infrastructure, a budget with funding, and clarity about who was
responsible for what. The plans were presented in assemblies for
residents to comment on and approve before being implemented as the
blueprint for each village’s waste management program. Once the
villages had formulated their own waste management programs, they
took ownership of the project.
The project team held
separate sessions to consult with a range of stakeholders – from
city workers to junk store representatives to health and tourism
officials – to expand participation in implementing the law. As a
result, resorts and inns established composting facilities and
improved waste separation, tourists were informed about the
strict no-littering and waste separation policies, hospitals and
clinics started to separate their waste, and schools and universities
improved their recycling and composting practices.
Toward Zero Waste:
Results
The project grew by
leaps and bounds over two years. While in 2009 almost no villages
had begun implementation of the law, in 2011, 25 had local ordinances
on waste management that specifically banned open burning and dumping
and mandated household waste separation and composting. Ten villages
passed every facet of the final evaluation with flying colors, while
nine of those that did not pass were at least halfway to achieving
their waste management goals.
A follow-up survey
showed a high percentage of residents were separating out their waste
(88% of those surveyed) and composting (53%). Fifteen villages are
now consistently implementing pure composting. Worm composting has
also increased, and the city has provided villages and schools with
worms and organic fertilizer. Seventeen villages have started
comprehensive collection systems. Thirty-two villages have built
eco-sheds which provide temporary storage for residual, hazardous,
and small amounts of recyclable waste, which are then collected by
the city and brought to the city recycling facility.
Open dumping and
burning decreased significantly: In 2009, almost every field had a
pile burning; by 2011 there were almost none.
The survey also showed
city government fully committed to the zero waste vision. The city
has begun providing employees who were highly respected by village
leaders to serve full-time as members of the project. In 2010, the
city council passed into law the first zero waste city ordinance in
the country, a local version of the national waste management law
that includes a stronger provision against incineration and specifies
how Alaminos will implement collection and conduct public education,
among other things. This historic legislation upholds garbage
separation, sets a target for waste diversion, and prohibits
incineration.
Recently, Alaminos
announced a "No-segregation, no-collection" policy.
Residents will receive a warning if their waste is not separated.
After a couple of warnings, their garbage will no longer be picked
up. The city has already seen a noticeable reduction in the volume of
overall waste. The city has considered - but not yet
passed - a ban on plastic bags.
Much more needs to
done to implement waste management programs in the villages – two
years is not long enough to reverse decades of old habits. Still, the
dramatic changes underway show what is possible when communities and
local government unite their commitment and their energies.
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