IS IT POSSIBLE TO CLOSE LANDFILLS AND DUMPSITES ONE HUNDRED PERCENT?

No, that is not a hypothetical question, because it has already actually happened in Tilos, Greece.

Tilos is a small island in the Dodecanese with a relatively small population. Yet through the Just Go Zero Tilos program, its old landfill was shut down and transformed into a Circular Innovation Centre. Public waste bins were removed and households and businesses began segregating their waste at source, followed by door-to-door collection. The reported recovery rate has exceeded 85 percent, with the program designed to recover all waste streams. 

So, what can we learn from Tilos?

The first principle that comes to my mind is subsidiarity.

Simply stated, problems should be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Higher authorities should do what lower authorities cannot effectively do.

The second principle is “Small Is Beautiful,” the idea associated with economist E. F. Schumacher. His 1973 book argued that economics should serve people, communities and the environment rather than simply pursue gigantism and endless growth.

Looking at the enormous garbage problem of the Philippines, it may seem impossible to solve it at the national level.

But what about at the local level?

Perhaps at the city or municipal level?

Better still, why not start at the barangay level?

There is really no rocket science needed here. And there is certainly no need for an MBA from a fancy school.

I believe an ordinary person elected to a local position could make a tremendous difference, provided there is no corruption and, equally important, no indifference.

Being corrupt and indifferent may be the worst combination of all. I would rather not imagine that some officials are simply too lazy—or too dumb—to understand that garbage can actually have economic value.

Our own Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, R.A. 9003, already puts primary responsibility for solid waste management on LGUs. It specifically assigns segregation and collection of biodegradable, compostable and reusable waste at the barangay level and calls for Materials Recovery Facilities.

So why not actually implement the law?

For organic waste, we do not need complicated technology. A shredder can reduce market and agricultural waste into material that can be composted and eventually converted into organic fertilizer.

There are Filipino technologies worth looking at. R.U. Foundry and Machine Shop Corporation of Bacolod City, headed by Ramon D. Uy Sr., has developed locally made shredders and agricultural machinery. 

In fact, Bacolod has already used a RU Foundry shredder and windrow turner in processing public-market fruit and vegetable waste into compost.

This is where garbage management becomes livelihood creation.

Instead of paying somebody to haul organic waste to a landfill, why not process it into fertilizer and return it to farmers?

Mr. Uy has long promoted this approach.

So, can we close our landfills and dumpsites?

Perhaps the better question is: Why can't we start trying—one barangay at a time?

If a small island in Greece can show what is possible, perhaps a small barangay in the Philippines can show us that it is possible here too.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres  iseneres@yahoo.com  senseneres.blogspot.com  09088877282/09-10-2027