Locals take pride in collected trashBY EDSON C. TANDOC JR
BORACAY - This time, it is not just about the fine white sand and the crystal clear water.
For 38-year-old Victor Mamin, who works here as a garbage collection supervisor, a bigger source of pride is the trash produced by the country's top tourist draw.
This is because he and about 70 other garbage workers here are turning disposable cups and plates into flower pots and floor tablets and kitchen wastes into fertilizers and selling old cans and bottles.
They are hopeful that the cash generated from their activities will soon be enough to sustain the operations of at least three garbage facilities here.
Head up
For 38-year-old Victor Mamin, who works here as a garbage collection supervisor, a bigger source of pride is the trash produced by the country's top tourist draw.
This is because he and about 70 other garbage workers here are turning disposable cups and plates into flower pots and floor tablets and kitchen wastes into fertilizers and selling old cans and bottles.
They are hopeful that the cash generated from their activities will soon be enough to sustain the operations of at least three garbage facilities here.
Head up
What's more, they now walk with their head up high because they know they are doing their share to help the island rise from its garbage crisis.
"I get excited every day I report to work because I feel I am helping in the improvement of Boracay," Mamin told the Inquirer during a recent tour of a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Barangay Manoc-Manoc here.
The facility is one of the three MRFs on the island, established by the Department of Tourism in May 2006, in response to pleas for help by residents and resort owners alarmed by the discovery two years ago of an open dump on the island.
Trucks of trash
"I get excited every day I report to work because I feel I am helping in the improvement of Boracay," Mamin told the Inquirer during a recent tour of a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Barangay Manoc-Manoc here.
The facility is one of the three MRFs on the island, established by the Department of Tourism in May 2006, in response to pleas for help by residents and resort owners alarmed by the discovery two years ago of an open dump on the island.
Trucks of trash
The three MRFs now accept an average of 11 truck loads a day of waste, which is segregated into biodegradables and recyclables.
Project manager Judea Millora said the facility in Barangay Balabag managed to get an air-conditioner and a computer from San Miguel Company in exchange for collected bottles.
Resorts maintaining gardens also buy compost made from the kitchen waste collected at the MRFs.
Used cooking oil mixed with disposable cups and plates are melted and turned into flower pots and floor tablets, which are sold for P15 each.
Wastes from clinics
Project manager Judea Millora said the facility in Barangay Balabag managed to get an air-conditioner and a computer from San Miguel Company in exchange for collected bottles.
Resorts maintaining gardens also buy compost made from the kitchen waste collected at the MRFs.
Used cooking oil mixed with disposable cups and plates are melted and turned into flower pots and floor tablets, which are sold for P15 each.
Wastes from clinics
The MRF in Barangay Yapak also manages wastes from clinics and hospitals. Needles, for instance, are sealed in hard jars and are buried in tombs, said Presidential Assistant Secretary for Boracay Consuelo Padilla.
The facilities were set up to comply with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which not only bans open dumps but also provides for waste management starting at the barangay level.
There were garbage facilities here before. Mamin should know because he has been working as a street sweeper since 1996.
But there was no segregation, and what were referred to as garbage facilities just served as stinking dumping grounds, aggravating the problem brought about by the increasing number of tourists and rapid mushrooming of shops, bars and hotels.
New construction also meant more workers being shipped to the island, and more people means more waste, explained Barangay Balabag chair Glenn Sacapano, who oversees the operations of the one-hectare MRF in his area.
"The DOT had to intervene," Millora said.
The project was provided with an original budget of close to P10 million and the money was used to buy trucks, shredders and bioreactors (to turn biodegradable wastes into compost).
Millora, a doctor, stayed on the island for several months, and taught not only garbage workers but residents and resort owners as well on how to segregate garbage.
Soon, high school undergraduate workers were operating computers for their monitoring reports, wearing gloves and face masks when handling garbage, wearing color-coded uniforms with collars and using two-way radios to communicate.
In November 2006, they were given immunization shots to protect them from illnesses.
"We want them to improve. We are motivating them to feel their work is dignified. Now, people respect them," Millora said.
So when garbage collectors require segregated wastes from resorts and households, employees and residents know they have to comply.
When Mamin issues citation tickets to violators, resort owners pay the P2,500-fine and promise to tell their employees never again to bring out unsegregated trash.
Millora said compliance now ranges from 50 to 93 percent.
Millora was also happy not only because they had spent only P4.8 million of the original budget, but also because the facilities they had put up were on their way to becoming self-sufficient.
Sacapano said the MRF in Balabag earn P24,000 a month from the waste it was selling. The MRFs also help provide jobs to residents here.
Analita Garcia, 44, earns P160 a day from her work as a garbage sorter in Manoc-Manoc.
Her earnings help send her two children to grade school, since her husband Rufo does not have a stable job.
Her operation was disrupted late last year, however, when the MRFs were damaged due to Typhoon Seniang.
Fortunately, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano last month turned over an initial P837,319 to the Boracay Chamber of Commerce Inc.
The amount was used to repair the MRFs as well as finance the conduct of a food preparation training course. The DOT will give another P179,100 to sustain the training until July.
"We will fund the construction of new structures to make them stronger against typhoons," Padilla said.
Padilla also said the group hoped that the garbage management system in Boracay would not only solve the crisis permanently, but would also serve as models for other areas in the country.
The MRFs are already in place, changing the way people look at garbage and at themselves. But the work to ensure a clean and green Boracay is far from over.
The facilities were set up to comply with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which not only bans open dumps but also provides for waste management starting at the barangay level.
There were garbage facilities here before. Mamin should know because he has been working as a street sweeper since 1996.
But there was no segregation, and what were referred to as garbage facilities just served as stinking dumping grounds, aggravating the problem brought about by the increasing number of tourists and rapid mushrooming of shops, bars and hotels.
New construction also meant more workers being shipped to the island, and more people means more waste, explained Barangay Balabag chair Glenn Sacapano, who oversees the operations of the one-hectare MRF in his area.
"The DOT had to intervene," Millora said.
The project was provided with an original budget of close to P10 million and the money was used to buy trucks, shredders and bioreactors (to turn biodegradable wastes into compost).
Millora, a doctor, stayed on the island for several months, and taught not only garbage workers but residents and resort owners as well on how to segregate garbage.
Soon, high school undergraduate workers were operating computers for their monitoring reports, wearing gloves and face masks when handling garbage, wearing color-coded uniforms with collars and using two-way radios to communicate.
In November 2006, they were given immunization shots to protect them from illnesses.
"We want them to improve. We are motivating them to feel their work is dignified. Now, people respect them," Millora said.
So when garbage collectors require segregated wastes from resorts and households, employees and residents know they have to comply.
When Mamin issues citation tickets to violators, resort owners pay the P2,500-fine and promise to tell their employees never again to bring out unsegregated trash.
Millora said compliance now ranges from 50 to 93 percent.
Millora was also happy not only because they had spent only P4.8 million of the original budget, but also because the facilities they had put up were on their way to becoming self-sufficient.
Sacapano said the MRF in Balabag earn P24,000 a month from the waste it was selling. The MRFs also help provide jobs to residents here.
Analita Garcia, 44, earns P160 a day from her work as a garbage sorter in Manoc-Manoc.
Her earnings help send her two children to grade school, since her husband Rufo does not have a stable job.
Her operation was disrupted late last year, however, when the MRFs were damaged due to Typhoon Seniang.
Fortunately, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano last month turned over an initial P837,319 to the Boracay Chamber of Commerce Inc.
The amount was used to repair the MRFs as well as finance the conduct of a food preparation training course. The DOT will give another P179,100 to sustain the training until July.
"We will fund the construction of new structures to make them stronger against typhoons," Padilla said.
Padilla also said the group hoped that the garbage management system in Boracay would not only solve the crisis permanently, but would also serve as models for other areas in the country.
The MRFs are already in place, changing the way people look at garbage and at themselves. But the work to ensure a clean and green Boracay is far from over.
No comments:
Post a Comment