Solid Waste Management is very vital in maintaining environment conducive for the health of the people. It is of utmost important for us to work toward improving and sustaining proper solid waste management in the community.
That being said, Improper Solid waste management has still been a concern for really long time here in the Philippines. This may be attributed to improper garbage disposal or the increased in the consumption and production of waste by the human population which then results to alterations in the natural balance of our ecosystem. People have neglected the importance of proper management as they resort to careless disposal of their waste products that started to destroy and poison our environment today.
There have been several programs and approaches initiated to start resolving this problem. Here in the Philippines, a Law was passed in particular of this problem which is the RA 9003 also known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 which mandates the provision of an Ecological Solid Waste Management Program, creating the necessary institutional mechanisms and incentives, declaring certain acts prohibited and providing penalties, appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes. But it is unfortunate to say that, even with this Law, the problem in SWM still remains.
In Barangay Bag-ong Dalaguete, 61.9% of the households do not practice segregation, 42.5% dispose their garbage through open dumping, and only 36% practices composting. There was no existing garbage collection system and no solid waste facilities available in the community. This is alarming due to the fact that Bag-ong Dalaguete main sources of drinking water are from tubod (dug shallow spring water) which can be easily contaminated and lead to waterborne diseases. Aside from environmental pollution, the wastes can also serve as breeding sites for vector borne diseases.
Our General Objective is to increase the percentage of households practicing proper Solid Waste Management from 38.1% to 80 % in Barangay Bag-ong Dalaguete Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur in 2020.
To properly address this issue, each aspect of the problem must be taken into considerations.
1. Identify the sources of waste in the barangay and conduct a Waste Analysis and Characterization Study (WACS) to properly understand the types and amounts of materials disposed in each purok and the barangay as a whole.
2. Improve the knowledge, followed by establishing a SWM organization and formulate strategic plan.
3. Improve waste segregation and establish waste reduction facilities in barangay.
4. Improve barangay ordinance provisions on segregation and composting in the community.
To ensure the sustainability of the intervention, full effort on supporting the implementation of the programs should be exerted. This will be reinforced by the formation of a core group who will regularly monitor and ensure that the proposed solutions are being implemented well. In addition, a resolution would be proposed in the barangay to help strengthen the continuity of the programs.
B