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Thursday, May 03, 2007
C. Luzon's 4T tons daily garbage worry agency
By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is alarmed over the worsening garbage problem in Central Luzon.
At a daily generation of about half a kilo of garbage per person, Central Luzon alone, with about eight million population, generates as much as 4,000 tons of garbage per day or 1.44 million tons annually, enough to create an enormous mountain of garbage similar to Payatas, DENR Regional Executive Director Regidor de Leon.
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"This is definitely a lot of waste. If we cannot address this problem now, we would soon find ourselves buried in our own trash," de Leon warned, adding that reducing, reusing, and recycling waste are just some of the more practical and doable efforts to help ease the garbage problem.
Statistics show that 70 percent of Central Luzon's daily garbage or 2,800 tons are collected by dump trucks hired by local governments.
The remaining 30 percent or roughly 1,200 tons end up in canals, vacant spaces, street corners, market places, creeks and rivers, and eventually, into the sea.
The DENR, together with corporate giant SM Prime Holdings in Clark, Clark Development Corporation (CDC), and Environmental Practitioners Association (EPA) launched a massive campaign to promote waste segregation and recycling through a market fair where recyclable waste may be sold.
Started by EPA four years ago, the Waste Market Event invites the public to sell their recyclable materials such as papers and cartons, plastic bottles, automobile batteries, aluminum cans, old computers, electronic equipment, ink printer cartridges, among others, to accredited recycler industries in a given buying station during the fair, explained DENR public affairs officer for Central Luzon Donaver Guevarra.
"It is important to increase public awareness on waste management to effectively address the worsening garbage pollution in the country. Recycling must be a way of life for every Filipino," Guevarra said. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (May 3, 2007 issue)
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