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Nature form miracles from rocks, water mist, sunlight and dew and one of the greatest
things one can ever do is to protect our nature or the environment we live in.
Today, awareness of the importance of proper waste management is everybody’s
concern. Our government has done much to protect our environment thus, proper waste
management was introduced due to the emerging problems besetting our country like floods, soil
erosion, climate change etc.
Waste management has always been part of human society, it consists of waste
prevention, reuse, material recycling, composting, energy recovery and final disposal. Today,
unlike in previous historical periods waste management covers a very wide variety of materials,
activities industrial sectors and actors.
Like other any developing countries, waste management has become a major problem in
the Philippines for the past decade. Inefficient and lack of disposal facilities are the common
problems in developing countries, due to the lack of resources to purchase high technology
facilities to support waste management activities, developing countries are more affected than
developed countries.
In most developing countries the municipal solid waste stream is dominated by organics,
the use of composting is necessary. There are many people in the informal sector who are
actively involved in waste collection, separation and recycling. There is often shortage of capital
and human resource to manage the waste there is lack of physical infrastructure in urban areas to
make the waste collection more efficient the situation calls for a low technology solutions.
In this research the discussion focuses on the Philippine setting, it provides an overview
of the waste management and recycling in the Philippines, waste management policy in the
country and the Role of Governance towards effective waste management, and its effect in the
agriculture sector in the Philippines.
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3. Do the government applied good governance in dealing with waste management
problems?
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Conceptual Framework
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Historical Context
Waste Management System in the Philippines
The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands with an estimated population of 104 million as
population continues to increase the country problem on waste management also increases.
Rapid urbanization also contributes to the country problem waste. In response to the rising
problems on waste management the Philippine government for the past seven decades has
implemented several measures to protect the environment and the health of the people from the
hazards caused by improper waste disposal as shown in the table below:
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Republic Act 7160 – The Local Government Code
Mandates LGUs to exercise powers and discharge functions and
1991 responsibilities as necessary or appropriate and incidental to the efficient and
effective provision of services and facilities related to general hygiene and
sanitation, beautification, and solid waste collection and disposal systems.
Department Administrative Order No. 98-49
1998
Provides technical guidelines for proper disposal of municipal solid waste.
Department Administrative Order No. 98-50
1998 Provides procedures in identifying sanitary landfill site and screening
Criteria for municipal solid waste disposal facilities.
Republic Act 8749 – The Clean Air Act
Provides a comprehensive air pollution control policy and for other
purposes. Section 20 bans the use of incineration for burning municipal, bio-
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medical, and hazardous waste but allows the traditional method of small-
scale community burning.
Despite of the presence of these policies the problems on solid waste management have
continued as before. Although the earlier policies were not successful and some of the laws have
been superseded in he Philippines government continuously implement laws in order to regulate
waste in the country with the R.A 9003 also known as Ecological Solid Waste Management Act
of 2000 on January 26, 2001 the organizational structure of the institutions and organizations and
responsibilities as mandated in R.A 9003 is shown below:
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Office of the President
Barangays
- Handle the 100% collection of biodegradable and reusable wastes
- Establish Material Recovery Facility
- Conduct information and education campaigns
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In this study, environmental governance refers to the process and mechanisms that
integrate the different elements of Solid Waste Management such as the policy regulators, the
different organizations, the community and the required technology. The elements of good
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governance include transparency, participation and accountability by the various stakeholders
and the conscious efforts to contribute in solving the problem. The participation or non-
participation of these sectors significantly affects the success of sustainable waste management.
In addition, the identification of appropriate technology based on the existing condition and
available resources is important in addressing the problems on solid waste management in the
country.
The Philippines is mainly an agricultural country with a land area of 30 million hectares,
47 percent which is agricultural. The total area devoted to agricultural crops is 13 million
hectares distributed among food grains, food crops and non-food crops. Among the crops grown
rice, coconut and sugarcane are major contributors to biomass energy resources.
Republic Act 9003 defines agricultural waste as those generated from planting or
harvesting of crops, trimming or pruning of plants and waste on runoff materials from farm or
fields. The most common agricultural waste in the Philippines are rice husk, rice straw, coconut
husk, coconut shell and bagasse.
Agriculture is a well-known source of water land and air pollution, the way agricultural
wastes are stored and used has profound effects on human health and the environmental waste
from operators can pollute the environment and affect water quality, in measured amounts farm
waste acts as fertilizers. But if the amounts are excessive bacteria and chemicals can flow into
the ground and contaminate waster drinking sources.
With the passing if Biofuels Act of 2006 crops grown rice, coconut and sugarcane
became the major contributors to biomass energy resources and a supplement fuel wood for
cooking.
The waste management practices have potential adverse effects on the environment
particularly in the swine and poverty farms. There were inappropriate management strategies for
both solid and liquid waste by the majority of farmers, discharged of untreated effluent into the
waterways open dumping and hazardous open-air burning the present studies calls need for
stricter enforcement and effective disseminator of local government regulations and existing
environmental laws by concerned government agencies to ensure that a sustainable livestock and
poultry production will be achieved.
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Conclusion
Based on the review of the waste management system in the Philippines it shows that
government alone cannot solve this gigantic problem of waste. Creation and implementation of
policies dealing with different issues and concern, planning, design and operation of the solid
waste management programs is earnestly important, particularly in the agricultural sector for it
would be a big help to farmers upon realizing the pros and cons of proper waste management not
only in their area but more so to the environment we live in.
The promotion of awareness campaigns in bringing the right information to the people to
make them understand the importance of such policies the application of good governance
through participations of various stakeholders, strong awareness and campaigns is quiet
necessary.
Therefore addressing waste management issues do not only involve environmental
concerns but also economical and social concerns.