A LETTER TO EVERY MAYOR ABOUT SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

A LETTER TO EVERY MAYOR ABOUT SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

From time to time, I receive letters that deserve to be shared far beyond their original addressee. This is one of them.

What you are about to read is based on a letter originally written by my brother, Rey V. Seneres, to the Mayor of Butuan City. Rey is a practicing architect and town planner in the State of New Jersey. He also happens to be a product of Butuan City public schools, a son of the Agusan River, and proof that overseas Filipinos can give back—not with donations alone, but with ideas shaped by experience.

I have edited his letter and expanded its audience. This is now a letter to every mayor in the Philippines.

Rey begins with a simple premise: solid waste management is not just a sanitation issue; it is a governance issue, a livelihood issue, and a future-generations issue. Drawing from his work in waste-management projects in the United States and his exposure to municipal systems in New Jersey, he argues that what works abroad can be adapted—not copied blindly—to Philippine realities.

He lays down five guiding principles that every mayor should pin on the wall:

“Segregation at source is non-negotiable.
Barangays must be empowered, not bypassed.
Waste must be treated as a resource, not a burden.
Solutions must be modular, scalable, and financially sustainable.
Rivers must be protected as heritage and life-sources.”

At the core of his proposal is segregation at source—biodegradable, recyclable, and residual—done at the household level. Without this, everything else collapses. No fancy technology can fix mixed garbage.

From there, he proposes a hub-and-spoke system of Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs): barangay-level MRFs for basic sorting and storage, feeding into a city-level MRF for bulk processing, baling, pelletizing, and partnerships with recyclers. This reduces hauling costs and, more importantly, creates accountability—each barangay knows how much waste it produces.

For biodegradable waste, Rey suggests a mix of community composting and central composting for markets and institutions. But the most interesting idea is the use of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) bioconversion.

“BSF can reduce biowaste volume by up to 80–90 percent,” he writes, “while producing high-protein larvae for animal feed and organic fertilizer for farms.”

In plain terms: basura becomes pagkain and pataba. Markets, households, and farmers become part of one circular system.

He goes further. Plastics should not just be collected—they should be pelletized at the barangay level, increasing their value and reducing storage and transport costs. BSF outputs can also be pelletized, creating standardized livestock feed and fertilizer that local farmers can actually use. This, he says, transforms waste management into a local economic ecosystem, not a budgetary black hole.

Only true residual waste should end up in landfills or waste-to-energy facilities—and even then, Rey recommends small, modular systems, not massive projects that cities cannot afford or regulate properly.

Underlying all this is a deep respect for culture and language. Rey insists that education campaigns must speak to people in their own tongue, reminding them that whatever is thrown on the ground today ends up in the river tomorrow.

His conclusion is worth quoting directly:

“This integrated system is not theoretical—it is practical, achievable, and culturally aligned with the way our communities live and work. It draws from proven models I have seen in the United States and adapts them to Philippine realities.”

Mayors often ask, “Where do we start?” The answer is unglamorous but clear: segregation at source, empowered barangays, and the political will to stay the course beyond one term.

My brother’s letter is a reminder that some of the best policy ideas do not come from consultants or glossy reports. Sometimes, they come from Filipinos who left, learned, and came back—at least with their minds and their hearts—to help clean up the home they never really left.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres iseneres@yahoo.com senseneres.blogspot.com 09088877282/03-22-2027

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