By: Joe Sprite

Garbage had been with us since men had become civilized. Archeologists found that Western peoples dumped their wastes in kitchen middens and when they lived in cities, the disposed their waste in a common dumping area. Proper waste disposal did not happen overnight with them. Plagues and epidemics had taken their toll of human lives and better minds found out that sanitation is one way of preventing those calamities thus garbage disposal become systematic. Sadly, this is not true with Philippine culture. Archeologist who found kitchen middens and garbage heaps good sources of studies of lives of ancient peoples in the West do not find them in the Philippine setting.

With the downtown barangays of Jagna fast becoming urbanized, garbage production would be increasing and proper disposal of which is becoming a problem. It is not surprising. One of the features that the Jagna LGU wanted to show to the barangay officials during the recent Lakbay Aral to Cebu City was the manner how the urban barangays dealt with their solid waste. One of the barangays visited was Lahug, a progressive barangay in Cebu City . This barangay maintains a garbage collection section, which has a few garbage trucks and collection personnel. They observe a strict collection schedule and dispose their garbage in the city dump. However, the most important feature in garbage control is their garbage ordinance. Anybody caught littering will pay a heavy fine. What is interesting is that if litter is found within the premises of a household, the owner of this household will have to pay the fine regardless of who dumped the garbage.

This reminds us of a certain law in Toronto , Canada . During winter, if a person slips, falls down and sustains injuries in the sidewalk of a certain residence, the owner will not only pay a fine but will also pay for the medical bills of the injured. Since snow melts and freezes into ice during winter, residents can be seen shoveling snow or sweeping their sidewalks after every snowfall. This means, every resident is responsible for the safety of passers by within their premises. Lahug residents must have taken a leaf from the Toronto law book.

Another Lakbay Aral destination, which has something to do with solid waste management, was Jagobiao, Mandaue City . They have a way of utilizing various types of waste. Their wastes are segregated into the biodegradable and non-biodegradable, malatá and dilí malatá Some biodegradable materials can be processed into organic fertilizers and the non-biodegradable can be recycled. The wastes are segregated at the source since segregation at the processing site would be complicated. The Jagna LGU has laws in the implementation of the solid waste management program but how to implement it must be accompanied by incentives, whatever they may be and hefty fines for the violations. There are laws and laws but implementation is another matter. Implementation should not only go down to the barangay level but to the household level where waste segregation is to be practiced.

The Cebu observations may not be able to be practiced here in toto however some of them might be adopted. Non-biodegradable things like tin cans, plastics and scrap iron could be readily sold but the cellophane is another matter. And those are most numerous. Some biodegradable wastes would be good materials for organic fertilizer but handling them is not for the finicky. In cities, slum dwellers make a living in city dumps but city dumps offer many saleable and recyclable materials while our garbage has few of them. We do not also have slum dwellers so processing garbage in suburban areas like ours must have proper incentives. But what? Municipal authorities should think of something.