LOCAL government units (LGUs) can tap private enterprises, specifically junk shops, in the implementation of their solid waste-management program.

The Philippines generates an estimated 30,000 tons a day, or 5,000 truckloads, of garbage daily and only half is collected nationwide. 

Metro Manila produces 8,000 tons a day, or approximately 1,400 truckloads. Of these, only about 30 percent, or around 420 truckloads, are uncollected. The uncollected garbage often end up clogging rivers, estero and other water bodies.

Speaking at the Communication and Exchange Forum at the Philippine Information Agency in Quezon City on Tuesday, National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) Executive Director Emelita Aguinaldo noted that many households have difficulty disposing of their garbage, which often include recyclable materials sought by waste pickers in dumps.

She further noted that many LGUs could no longer put up their own materials-recovery facility (MRF) because of lack of space.

“That is why we are encouraging the LGUs and barangays to tap junk-shop operators to help in proper solid-waste management…Garbage, when properly segregated at source, can be beneficial to junk-shop agents, whose job is to collect and buy junks,” she stressed.

 “For junk buyers, they can earn from segregating these waste and salvaging junks collected from households,” she added, noting that junk-shop operators have the manpower to do what is basically the job of operators of MRF.

LGUs are required to put up their own MRF as mandated by Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Under the law, every barangay should have its own MRF, as well as a comprehensive solid waste-management plan to be submitted to the NSWMC. The barangays are also tasked to collect garbage segregated at source from every household in their respective areas.

 However, due to lack of space and funding, many LGUs, especially in Metro Manila, could not fulfill the said law’s mandate.

Aguinaldo said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and the NSWMC, could provide training to waste pickers assigned by junk-shop operators to avoid risks of exposure to potential toxic and hazardous materials during hauling and recovery operations.

DENR-EMB Director Juan Miguel Cuna said the bureau is determined to implement the law, particularly the shutting down of more than 1,000 open dumps operated by LGUs nationwide.

He said the DENR can provide the LGUs the technical support that they need to comply with the 10-year-old law as he  recognizes the fact that most LGUs have limited resources to put up their own sanitary landfills.