Plastic Waste Management Problem in The Philippines

A reaction
paper on The
Philippine’s
Plastic Waste
Management
Problem
Caleb Carlos
G7 – St. Vincent
Introduction
The capital of the Philippines is Manila and with 71,263 living per square kilometer (as of
2019) the most densely populated city in the world. The city is located on the eastern shore of
Manila Bay. The Pasig River runs through the center of the city and divides it into a northern
part and a southern part. The term "Manila" is often used to refer to the entire metropolitan area,
the larger metropolitan area, or the city proper. The officially defined metropolitan area of Metro
Manila, the capital region of the Philippines, includes the much larger Quezon City and the
Makati Central Business District. It is the most populous region in the country, one of the most
populated urban areas in the world, and one of the richest regions in Southeast Asia. The city
proper is home to around 1.8 million people, and Metro Manila has more than 13 million people.
Today, more than 13 million people live in Metro Manila. As with many other megacities in Asia,
waste collection and disposal is a major environmental issue. The Philippines currently
generates around 35,000 tons of municipal waste every day, and Metro Manila alone more than
8,600 tons per day. A significant part of the garbage is openly burned, further deteriorating the
quality of the city's already heavily polluted air. Plastic waste management remains a great
challenge in the country, especially in urban areas like Metro Manila. Inadequate waste
disposal, inefficient waste collection, and lack of disposal facilities are among the predominant
problems in waste management in the country. Left unaddressed, waste from various sources
will continue to create health risks and serious environmental impacts, such as ground and
surface water contamination, flooding, air pollution, and the spread of disease. Metro Manila
generates more than 10,000 tons of garbage every day, which is expected to double by 2030. A
considerable part of the garbage is openly burned, further deteriorating the quality of the city's
already heavily polluted air or being dumped in the rivers. Brooks and Manila Bay.
Research Body
The Philippine government issued RA 9003 in 2001 or the Philippine Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act to encourage waste reduction, recovery, recycling and reuse and
binding targets for local communities. Local government units. However, there are only a very
limited number of recycling facilities equipped with waste reduction technologies such as
recycling and composting. This, combined with accelerated economic growth, high energy
demand, and heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels, creates a promising environment for waste
incineration technologies. WOIMA has the perfect solution to help Manila reduce its waste-
related challenges. We have developed a decentralized energy generation and waste
management solution called the “WOIMA Ecosystem” that helps countries and cities meet the
growing challenges in the waste sector. WOIMA Ecosystem recycles waste in the most efficient
way in terms of raw materials and energy close to the place of origin, reducing the amount of
waste by more than 95%. WOIMA ecosystems of small to medium size are distributed in the
vicinity of waste generation and thus offer, in addition to solving the waste problem,
considerable savings in waste logistics and electricity distribution.
The law mandated the establishment of MSW collection system anchored on the 3R
formula which is Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. This involves segregation at source and
establishment of facilities such as materials recovery facilities, which ideally should be
established at the barangay level. With this kind of law and an effective execution of this law the
Philippines will surely lower the problem of plastic waste.
However, the goal of this law have yet to be achieved. Cities are still dumping waste on
open dumpsites. In 2010, when all open dumpsites should already have been closed as
mandated by the law, 790 dumpsites were still operating. It is very hard for the government to
solve this problem in the country and there are lot of obstacles to blame for the MSW failure.
First is the financing and governance. The investments cost and management burden of a
comprehensive MSW management system are too burdensome for many cities the Local
government unit or LGUs are tasked with the enforcement. This include MSW management
plans and setting up proper facilities. But the law does not cite specific enforcement actions, and
many LGU officials lack management and technical competency. Second is only 3 year term
limits for elected local officials also constrains them to adequately plan long-term solutions. And
lastly, investing in such system is very costly often too much for a single LGU
Conclusion and sources
In conclusion, on order to attain zero waste management in the Philippines is to push the
government take actions regarding to this matter and educate the people in each barangays to
practice zero plastic in a daily basis though it is impossible because there are products that
literally needs to be in a plastic, at least we can lessen the use of it in a daily basis apply the 3R
principle in our life Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. With this, we can make our planet more
breathable and we can lower pollution in the air.
https://woimacorporation.com/drowning-in-waste-case-manila-the-philippines/
https://blogs.adb.org/blog/ditch-nimby-fix-philippines-municipal-solid-waste-problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdHY9s5Pi7g&t=12s

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