WASTE MANAGEMENT IN DUMAGUETECITY

Waste Management

•Waste managementis thecollection,transport,processing,recyclingor disposal, and monitoring ofwastematerials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect onhealth, theenvironmentoraesthetics. Waste management is also carried out to recoverresourcesfrom it. Waste management can involvesolid,liquid,gaseousorradioactive substances, with different methods and fields of expertise for each.

•Waste management practices differ fordevelopedanddeveloping nations, forurbanandrural areas, and forresidentialandindustrialproducers. Management for non-hazardous wasteresidential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility oflocal government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.

Recycling as a solid waste management strategy in Dumaguete City

In DumagueteCity, the City Government is encouraging residents to recycle their wastes. Recycling involves a series of activities that includes collecting recyclable materials that would otherwise be considered waste, sorting and processing recyclables into raw materials, and manufacturing materials into new products. Recyclables include paper and all paper products, all kinds of plastics, whole and broken bottles, car batteries, tin cans, galvanized iron sheets and other metals.

The first step in the recycling process is collecting and processing. This involves collecting recyclables that vary from community to community. There are primary methods: drop-off centers, buy-back centers, and deposit and refund programs. Recyclables are sent to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to be sorted and prepared into marketable commodities for manufacturing. Recyclables are bought and sold like other commodities.

Step two is manufacturing. Once cleaned and separated, the recyclables are ready to undergo the second part of the recycling process. Recycled materials are used in innovative applications.

The last step is purchasing recycled products. By "buying recycled" items, government as well as business and individual consumers, play an important role in making the recycling process a success. As more consumers demand more environment-friendly products, manufacturers will continue to meet that demand by producing high quality recycled products.

Recycling in DumagueteCity started in 2000 when Ordinance No. 115, the Integrated Solid Waste Management Program authored by City Councilor Manuel Patrimonio was approved by the City Council.
Dick Encabo, coordinator of the city's Urban Forestry Management Development (UFMD) office, said his office has conducted series of seminar-workshops on Solid Waste Management in the barangays through barangay officials. Encabo said Calindagan is the pilot barangay for solid waste management in DumagueteCity. It has a cooperative to implement the entrepreneurial system of solid waste management. The barangay started the cooperative with the barangay councilors as initial members.
"The recycling project is 80 to 85 percent effective. Before 60 tons of solid waste were dumped daily at the dumpsite, but now only 28 tons are disposed there. People are aware of solid waste management because of education and enforcement," he said.
The principle of solid waste management is "reuse recycle, reduce waste." DumagueteCity has become a center for "Lakbay aralan" in the country. Other local government units visit the city to observe and see its recycling projects.

This system reduces the amount of waste disposed and results in cost saving and energy resource conservation. Resource recovery is has become a regular activity to.
Recycling reduces pressure at the dumpsite and conserves natural resources. It saves the government the cost of hauling garbage from each household.

Recycling, as an alternative approach to solid waste management, entails changes in lifestyle, attitude, and behavior. It underscores the participation of the people as agents of change and the need to ensure that development is directed towards the benefits of the people.

Waste Management Policies in DumagueteCity

•Republict Act 9003

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN ECOLOGICAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, CREATING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND INCENTIVES, DECLARING CERTAIN ACTS PROHIBITED AND PROVIDING PENALTIES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

•City Ordinance # 18

An ordinance establishing a septage waste management system in Dumaguete City.City Ordinance # 18 was passed and approved in 2006 in line with the Clean Water Act to protect the city’s groundwater and to require three chambers in septic tanks.

•City Ordinance # 115

Goal

The goal of this ordinance is the overall improvement of the environment and ecological conditions of the City.

Objectives

•To ensure cleanliness all the time through orderly waste management

•To eradicate unsightly, unrecovered and overflowing waste containers in streets, public places and open spaces.

•To optimize sanitary resource recovery for feeds, fuel materials, energy, etc.

•To minimize pollution arising from harmful gases, particulates produces by burning and dumping of hazardous substances.

Water Waste Management in DumagueteCity

The city government of Dumaguete in Negros Oriental inaugurated the first local government-funded septage treatment plant in the Philippines during the 40th anniversary of the Earth Day celebration last April 22, 2010.
The septage treatment plant is built in partnership with the local water district.
The treatment facility is a low-cost, low-maintenance system made up of lagoons, a reed bed (constructed wetland) and drying beds. It is designed to treat collected wastewater before it is released to the river as clean water and solids as fertilizer.
USAID provided technical assistance through its Philippine Sanitation Alliance (PSA) and Local Initiatives for Affordable Wastewater Treatment (LINAW) projects.

Both projects support the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, which brought attention to the need to treat domestic sewage coming from households, public and commercial buildings.

The Dumaguete City Water District supplies the city’s water needs and sources its water from 15 wells supplying approximately six million cubic meters a year.
The presence of about 15,000 septic tanks in the city, however, poses a major health risk to the people of Dumaguete.

Ground water is contaminated by untreated wastewater from the septic tanks that are not desludged regularly.

In 2006, the city government, with technical assistance from USAID, enacted a septage management ordinance providing the collection and treatment of septage, a management structure to supervise the operations of collection and treatment of wastewater and a cost recovery plan through a septage fee system.
As a result, the city government and the local water district entered into a partnership to construct the septage treatment plant as mandated by the local ordinance. Both parties equally contributed to the capital costs of the treatment plant.

•Republict Act 9275

"Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004"
An act providing for a Comprehensive Water Quality Management and for other purposes

•City Ordinance # 18

An ordinance establishing a septage waste management system in DumagueteCity. City Ordinance # 18 was passed and approved in 2006 in line with the Clean Water Act to protect the city’s groundwater and to require three chambers in septic tanks.