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A
THREE-DAY conference on wastes among local officials and
their representatives ended Thursday with green groups
pushing for the application of innovative solutions to
the garbage problem to help reverse global warming and
climate change.
Dubbed
as “zero waste for zero warming,” innovative solutions
are available to break the wasting and warming cycle
that cause climate change, say green groups.
Organized by Mother Earth Foundation (MEF), the
conference that delved on the theme “Out of the Box, Out
of the Dumps: Innovative Solutions to Waste,” held from
May 13 to 15 in Quezon City, was held several days after
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza ordered the closure
of the country’s dumps, with a stern warning against
failure on the part of the concerned local government
units (RA) (LGUs) to implement Republic Act 9003, or the
Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
The
event was also highlighted by the awarding of LGUs for
thinking and implementing solutions to waste “out of the
box.”
Sen. Pia
Cayetano, chairman of the Senate Committee on
Environment, Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio and Quezon City
Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, with some 200 local government
officials and representatives from Metro Manila and the
regions took part in the conference.
“Anyone
who generates waste has the responsibility to make sure
that the waste is dealt with in a manner that will not
bring harm to humans or other creatures or the
environment. It, therefore, does away with the old,
discredited practice of garbage hauling and dumping
which pollutes our air, water and soil and causes
inestimable damage to our health and biodiversity,” MEF
president Marie Marciano said.
“We
need only to tap the crea-tivity and resourcefulness
inherent in the Filipino to achieve the healthy,
waste-free and beautiful environment we all hope for.
Look to the simple, low-tech, local and low-cost
innovations on the grassroots, and watch your hopes
grow,” she further said.
Waste
disposal, explained the Global Alliance for Incinerator
Alternatives (GAIA), directly contributes to the warming
of the planet via the discharge of greenhouse gases such
as carbon dioxide from incinerators and methane from
dumps and landfills. The outmoded burning or burying of
discards also drives climate change by depriving the
economy of reused, recycled and composted materials.
Manny
Calonzo of GAIA and the waste-pollution watchdog
EcoWaste Coalition affirmed that “a climate-positive
alternative, known as “Zero Waste, hugely reduces
greenhouse-gas emissions by reducing the need for
extraction, processing and transport of raw materials,
as well as avoiding emissions from disposal.”
As
defined by the EcoWaste Coalition, Zero Waste is “the
synergy of principles, cultures, beliefs, systems,
methods and technologies that aims to eliminate wasting
and ensure full and beneficial use of resources to
restore ecological balance and provide for the needs of
all creation.”
Senator
Cayetano expressed hope that the gathering would “help
bring total consciousness on the environmental problems
we currently face due to irresponsible waste disposal,”
to which the green groups agreed.
Among
the recipients of the MEF’s “Out of the Box” awards are
Northern Samar provincial government for issuing an
official resolution to adopt the zero-waste framework
for the entire province; Caloocan City for being the
first to employ the “citizen’s suit” in its push for
citywide compliance to RA 9003; Santa Barbara,
Iloilo, for its municipal ban on plastic and promotion
of earth-friendly alternatives; Teresa, Rizal, for
closing its dumpsite and taking steps to rehabilitate
it; barangay Bagumbuhay, Quezon City, for residuals
management; and Mayor Belmonte for his unique incentive
program of giving back to barangays 50 percent of
garbage hauling costs saved by the city as a result of
their implementation of ecological solid-waste
management, which diverts wastes from dumpsites. J.
Mayuga |
