It’s hard to believe that our planet is already 4.

5 billion years old and human

beings first appeared between 5 million and 7 million years ago. Earth, third planet

from the sun and is the only planet fit for human life, is now slowly losing its

habitability. With our constant hunger for knowledge and the need to quench our

curiosity, we have adapted and progressed in various aspects millennium after

millennium. The sad thing is that we are also slowly killing our own home.

The lecture we had last October 26, 2019 regarding solid waste management

has brought so many things to think about and consider. Waste mismanagement has

serious environmental effects making the passage of the Republic Act (RA) 9003 or

the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 a landmark environmental

legislation in the Philippines. I was shocked to know that the law was crafted 19

years ago. How come that waste disposal is still a serious phenomenon every city

and municipality is facing right now? The law was crafted in response to the looming

garbage problems in the country. It should have been a solution to a problem, but

the problem still exists. RA 9003 declares the policy of the state in adopting a

systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste management program that

ensures the protection of public health and the environment and the proper

segregation, collection, transport, storage, treatment and disposal of solid waste

through the formulation and adoption of best environmental practices. The biggest

problems the cities and municipalities of Cebu face regarding the inefficiency of

garbage collection are due to the lack of garbage vehicles, as well as little to no

segregation and recycling. Cebu also has insufficient sanitary landfills to place the

garbage. The incinerators which are located at the existing landfills cannot be used

due to conflict between environmental groups and due to the fact that the use of

incinerators is prohibited by the Clean Air Act of the Philippines. Ordinances related
to garbage collection, reduction, and segregation already exist, but lack the

implementation needed for the laws to become fully effective. If the government

would implement this law strictly and impose serious penalties to the violators, I

guess people would abide and follow. Moreover, RA 9003 illustrates the potentials

and benefits of recycling not only in addressing waste management problems but

also in alleviating poverty.

With the current problems we are facing now, it is safe to say that we still

have time to save our Mother Earth. We can still be responsible stewards to take of

our nature. We can do little things that would have a great impact to our community,

society and environment. Each of us can start in our homes. I am proud to say that

my family has started to segregate waste with great sincerity. We are not doing this

because it is mandated by the local government but we take actions because we

know we can help save the environment. We can do proper waste segregation with

our family and also in schools. We can educate not only the students but also the

teachers to be more responsible on their wastes. Let us bear in mind that the

cultivation of human values alone is EDUCATION every school should put high

importance on values-formation as part of providing quality education to students.

We need to remind them that having the right values is as importance as having

proper knowledge.

Human activities contribute significantly in waste management. Recognizing

the effects of improper management, garbage crisis can be prevented by practicing

waste characterization and segregation at source, proper collection and transfer,

recycling, and composting as mandated by the law. Waste segregation is one of the

simple things we can do at home that we hardly follow, much less do it constantly.

Segregation is the first step in managing our waste. By properly disposing our waste,
we help hasten the work of our garbage handlers. Another way is to do waste

minimization or reduction. The easiest method of waste management is to reduce

creation of waste materials thereby reducing the amount of waste going to landfills.

Waste reduction can be done through recycling old materials like jar, bags, repairing

broken items instead of buying new one, avoiding use of disposable products like

plastic bags, reusing second hand items, and buying items that uses less designing.

In addition to, recycling and composting are a couple of another best methods of

waste management. Composting is so far only possible on a small scale, either by

private individuals or in areas where waste can be mixed with farming soil or used for

landscaping purposes. Recycling is widely used around the world, with plastic, paper

and metal leading the list of the most recyclable items. Most material recycled is

reused for its original purpose. Lastly, we can also do composting. Composting is a

easy and natural bio-degradation process that takes organic wastes i.e. remains of

plants and garden and kitchen waste and turns into nutrient rich food for your plants.

Composting, normally used for organic farming, occurs by allowing organic materials

to sit in one place for months until microbes decompose it. Composting is one of the

best method of waste disposal as it can turn unsafe organic products into safe

compost. On the other side, it is slow process and takes lot of space. Recycling is

the process of converting waste products into new products to prevent energy usage

and consumption of fresh raw materials. Recycling is the third component of reduce,

reuse and recycle waste hierarchy. The idea behind recycling is to reduce energy

usage, reduce volume of landfills, reduce air and water pollution, reduce greenhouse

gas emissions and preserve natural resources for future use.

As this world’s caretakers and ironically, the ones who aggravate

environmental problems, it is indeed up to us to change. Change isn’t always bad.

but steadily. Let’s hope we can still see our great grandchildren playing outside and

bask under the sun.