Jagna pilots waste social marketing

ALONG with the launching of the Ecological Solid Waste Management here, technical experts see a far better role that Jagna plays in the overall picture of waste management here in Bohol. Experts from Ecogovernance, said Jagna now is poised to be a key pilot municipality for waste management social marketing, a move that puts Jagna as a source of information education materials as the government expands and institutionalizes the concepts.

Jagna's piloting the social marketing for waste management makes locally sourced out information materials go to other places where waste management becomes a byword. Aptly said, Jagna's role is packaging the right information to specific targets, help shape opinions. Into mandatory composting in its step to reduce wastes going to the town operated materials recovery facility (MRF) Jagna asked residents to help come up with composting facilities in every home.

Jagna local government hopes to bag in two birds: more revenues, better garbage management and strong participation of the communities. Sangguniang Bayan and Technical working group member Senen Lloren said the launching of the Ecological Solid Waste Management program signals the dawn of a new era or responsible modern living. With yet a material recovery facility that accepts only recyclables could not yet fully serve the entire town and the decision to go for the mandatory composting and segregation at source eases up the job at the MRF, Lloren said.

Jagna option for the environment friendly waste management is a decision, which elated Mayor Exuperio Lloren who has always been a sustainable development advocate. Seeing Jagna as a key center for trade and industry, it being the entry port for Mindanao , Mayor Lloren also sees key role of the town in projecting a good image of a clean house, a sure sign of health and well being of its inhabitants.

“Comprehensive development is not just infrastructure on the rise” he stated during the grand launching of the program after a long dry run. A corresponding ordinance now determines the rates per sack of recyclable wastes generated from the sources, a rate for industries, commercial establishments and residential areas, Councilor Lloren told the Post. The aim is also to reduce the waste generated from households before the local government could fully lay the dreamt sanitary landfill for locally generated wastes, he added. Putting a corollary waste management recovery program into the mentality of the Jagna pupils is trickier, but more rewarding job, said local environmentalists. Jagna recently thought of swapping recyclables that kids bring to schools for educational supplies, an innovation that could motivate pupils to be good waste managers and equip them with the right tools.

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