RA 9003 Impossible To Implement?

RA 9003 Impossible To Implement?

Almost all Local Government Units [LGUs} have difficulties, after 13 years, in implementing the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or RA 9003; hence their non-compliance.

Republic Act 9003 [Solid Waste Management Act/ Garbage Law]

LGUs, the barangays in particular, can be charged with the Ombudsman for the non-compliance of the garbage law!

Local Government Units in Metro Manila [17 LGUs]

The mayors prefer to have their garbage to be disposed by private haulers and allocate about 50% of their annual budget for garbage hauling.

50% of LGU Annual Budget goes to garbage hauling

All wastes generated at source because of human activities can be recycled, reduced and reused. Only dumb government officials like dumpsites or landfills.

The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or Republic Act 9003 orders all LGUs to decentralize their garbage collections to their barangays, the smallest units of government. It is the barangays that must teach their residents to do the three Rs [Recycle, Reuse] right in their respective homes or buildings. They must know how to segregate: Collect their trash at source, and separate reusable trashes from residual trashes. The later are the kind of trashes that no one will buy or have any use for. Examples are used baby diapers, damaged textiles, broken ceramics, contaminated paper and very thin plastics. Residual waste is the only kind of garbage that can be brought by city-hired dump trucks to landfills.

The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or Republic Act 9003 orders all LGUs to decentralize their garbage collections to their barangays, the smallest units of government.

The law requires that each barangay to have a Materials Recovery Facility [MRF] of its own which is key to decentralizing waste management. An MRF is a structure or shed where all the garbage generated by the barangay is sorted into recyclables, organic waste, and non-recyclables or residual waste. Depending on its wastes, the MRF must be equipped with a compactor, a shredder and a wasting area where wastes are first cleansed from organic materials so they won't attract pests like rats, flies and cockroaches which are disease-carriers.

The law requires that each barangay to have a Materials Recovery Facility [MRF] of its own which is key to decentralizing waste management. An MRF is a structure or shed where all the garbage generated by the barangay is sorted into recyclables, organic waste, and non-recyclables or residual waste.

The city or municipality should provide each of the barangay within the city or municipality with funds for the construction of an MRF. But make it sure that the barangay receiving the assistance is really implementing the solid waste management program. It should also distribute pushcarts for the barangay garbage collectors.

In Quezon City, for example, the largest city in Metro Manila and the biggest spender in waste management, but to say, only 40 out of 142 barangays have an MRF, and none of these MRFs are operational.

MMDA General Manager Corazon Jimenez said many LGUs, including those in Metro Manila, have difficulty in implementing RA 9003; and added that it is too costly to implement it . Others have a "different interpretation" of the law. While the barangays help conduct awareness campaigns and segregate the trash in major thoroughfares, all residential garbage is still collected by the city and brought to a landfill.

Call Invr. Gonzalo O. Catan, Jr. at Tel. 02 525-0434 for assistance. Mr. Catan is practitioner in waste management, and the president of the Zero Waste Recycling Movement of the Philippines Foundation, Inc. or Waste Recycling Philippines for assistance. His organization is assisting barangays to be compliant with the law. 

Even, the National Committee on Urban Pest Control [NCUPC] has come up with this program: Developing A Program For Waste & Pest Management to assist not only barangays but business establishments as well to segregate their wastes. Call NCUPC at 02 484-0208 for immediate assistance.

http:su.edu.ph?testimonial/13-Roque%20G.%20Tibor%20Jr.