Philippine town turns garbage into gold

Channel NewsAsia 11 Jun 08;

RIZAL, Philippines : Disposing of trash is a problem for many governments worldwide, but one town in the Philippines has found a way to turn garbage into gold.

Three years ago, the dumpsite at the municipality of Teresa, Rizal was heaped with a mountain of garbage. Now, the town is more known for having the country's first ever Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility.

"After assuming office, I noted the problem of garbage. There were heaps of trash everywhere. There were also flies everywhere and I was afraid that diseases might spread, so I thought of a way to rehabilitate our dumpsite," said Rodel Dela Cruz, Mayor of Teresa, Rizal.

Under their zero waste programme, all the garbage are converted into different products.

Biodegradable wastes like fruit and vegetable peelings are dumped in a compost pit. These are then mixed with farm manure and turned into organic fertiliser.

Non-biodegradable wastes like plastics are crushed in a pulveriser, then mixed into a wet mound of cement and sand, to use as additives for hollow blocks and concrete blocks.

The recycled hollow blocks have become popular with businesses and the municipality is having a hard time keeping up with the orders. A piece of a recycled hollow block costs about US$0.20, which is 5 cents cheaper than the ones sold commercially in hardware stores.

Though officials admit that plastics are not the best adhesives for holding construction materials together, their recycled hollow blocks are still useful and economical for other structures.

"Our recycled hollow blocks are lighter than the commercial hollow blocks. Though they have passed the bureau of product standards, we recommend that only low-rise buildings like bungalows use this. It is also good for fencing, the canals and pathways," said the mayor.

Another product is charcoal made from scratch and shredded papers.

"This is a good alternative since LPG is so expensive now. Since we cannot cut trees to serve as wood for cooking so we can just use paper," the mayor said.

In the past three years, the volume of trash coming from households for the whole municipality has decreased from seven tonnes to three tonnes.

The Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility has also contributed to increasing the municipality's annual income to about US$900,000, up from US$750,000 last year.

The National Solid Waste Management Commission hopes to replicate the experience of this community to the whole country by 2010. But the lack of funding is hampering this goal.

The municipality of Teresa was able to fully close their dumpsite and build their Waste Management Facility in a year, through an US$8.2 million grant from the World Bank.

"The problem of solid waste in the Philippines is one of the critical problems we are facing today. We are building on the capacities of the local government units, including our field offices, in order for them to assist and mentor in the setting up of the solid waste management system. The key is to reduce waste or reuse and recycle our waste," said Emelita Aguinaldo, Deputy Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Commission.

Currently, more than 1,000 dumpsites still exist in the country and only 25 percent of local government units have established facilities that will collect and segregate waste materials. - CNA /ls