Trash, Privately

IT’S PRACTICAL, feasible and sustainable; privatizing solid waste management, that is. Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda mulls the idea and so thus City of San Fernando’s Oscar Rodriguez, as the seemingly insurmountable garbage problem takes its toll on public safety and government resources.

There is an estimated 950 metric tons of garbage being produced by Kapampangans every single day which, when we do the math, though not my strongest suit, translates to 95 truckloads per day. I ain’t quite certain how much it is but disposing all the trash would need much too many money. That, without counting the ones buried, burnt, thrown out of the river and the ones left somewhere else.

Blame it on indiscriminate disposal, blame it on non-segregation and altogether blame it on impunity. The public, that entity deserving of service, does itself the contrary in opting to disregard the deadly effects of the menace as one finds garbage almost everywhere.

Quite of note is that despite some barangays coming up with Materials Recovery Facilities, residents tend to trivialize, if not totally ignore, the initiative when the only requisite is to segregate trash from the households. Sometimes it beats the hell out of the brains when simple things get complicated due to indolence.

But the government, the Provincial Government to be precise, has been doing all it can to help local government units in dealing with their respective predicaments. The Capitol has given each of the 21 local government units one dump truck solely for garbage collection; though it is but sad to see these trucks queuing up for filling materials at some quarry sites. Despite all the efforts, however, governments can only do so much since ridding the province of garbage goes beyond logistics and technology. For towns with very limited funds, taking care of their refuse only adds up to the burden. And even those with money to tap, basic services get compromised fully when a big chunk of the budget goes to garbage.

Indeed, it takes much political will, huge resources and tons of social responsibility to solve the stink.

Privatizing garbage management is a good idea since the corporate aspect of it would most certainly compel the public to comply. It’s what I don’t understand with this culture, the need for things to be corporately themed to generate following, if not submission.

Say when government gives out soft loans with minimal interests, it would surely end up without returns with the non-payment of borrowers. But when banks and loan sharks give out loans even with ridiculous interests, it almost always ends up religiously patronized.

Why? I don’t know, perhaps we fear the private ones than the government. Or perhaps some of us see government as a perpetually absorbent rag that could suck up everything including contempt. Maybe, just maybe, privatizing solid waste management could very well change all that.

The governor is right, going private is the best option since the funding requirement won’t be met by the LGUs even with all the belt-tightening and streamlining; basic services need not be compromised.

And besides, we may just find it amusing when companies charge us a fee for throwing things for us. Sometimes the simple things require complication to prove a point.