‘No segregation, no collection’ policy starts July 1

THE "No segregation, No collection" waste management policy will take effect in 46 barangays on July 1, the City's Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) said.

There are 80 barangays in the city, but Engineer Armen Cuenca, head of Clenro, said that these 46 barangays are part of their pilot testing areas in order to observe the system and process that needs to be improved.

The villages included were Barangay 1 to 40, including six barangays that have large total land areas and population density, although he did not elaborate the names of these barangays.

"We are targeting that by 2020, all barangays would be all compliant," he said Tuesday, January 22. The information dissemination on the implementation will be done from January to June, he added.

He also said the garbage collected by trucks should only be residual wastes, those that are biodegradable and recyclable materials will remain.

"The landfill is for the residual wastes collected only, for the rest, (residents and establishments) it's encouraged to have their compost pits or MRFs (Materials Recovery Facility) for organic wastes," he added.

Cuenca also plan to adopt the city ordinance in Quezon City where similar waste disposal mechanism are meted with fines if violated. He said that charging penalty for violators will make the residents obliged to follow the ordinance.

The "No segregation, No collection" of garbage policy is still part of the provisions under City Ordinance No. 13378-2018, or the "Integrated Eco-biological Solid Waste Management Ordinance," The same ordinance that regulates the use of single-use plastic bags of which violators are fined with P3,000 per plastic bag used.

Kris Galarpe, a faculty and researcher at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, said that while it is good that people are aware of possible waste pollutants, she also said that there are other harmful pollutants that devastate the environment other than plastics which are harmful, especially if it reaches the sea.

"Plastic is just popularized because it's a structural pollutant obvious to naked eyes," she said. "We don't even have regulatory standards for specific organic pollutants be it PAHs- polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, POPs- persistent organic pollutants, hormones, and other organics," she added.

She also said that while the Philippines is Top 3 of plastic waste pollution in marine waters, the biggest marine pollution is untreated inland domestic wastewater, which is a problem because she noticed that there is no centralized wastewater treatment facility so far in the country.