Implementation of solid-waste law ‘very poor’

AN environment group on Monday blamed the government for the “miserable implementation” of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, making the country vulnerable to serious problems brought about by perennial flooding during heavy rains as what Metro Manila experienced when Typhoon Ondoy hit the country last month.

The EcoWaste Coalition (EcoWaste), a local waste and pollution watchdog, said the poor implementation of the law by national and local government agencies is aggravated by poor public awareness of the existence of such law.

The group’s working paper said public awareness of the law or Republic Act (RA) 9003 is dismally low at 27 percent, which means that fewer than three persons for every group of 10 knows about the existence of the law.

A total of 383 dumps remain operational and 397 so-called controlled dumps continue to contaminate the environment, EcoWaste’s Manny Calonzo said, citing the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) web site’s second- quarter 2009 data.

RA 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, was signed by President Arroyo on January 26, 2001—the first law she signed when she assumed the presidency.

More than eight years after the law was signed, it remains unimplemented, both by the NSWMC, the agency created by the law to oversee its implementation, and the various local government units, EcoWaste said.

The law created the necessary institutional mechanisms and incentives, and declared certain acts prohibited and penalized. It also provides funding for its implementation at the national and local levels.

“Aggravating the nonclosure and rehabilitation of these toxic sites is the slow progress in establishing ecology centers or materials recovery facilities (MRFs). At present, there are only 5,070 MRFs servicing 5,508 barangays out of the country’s 42,000 barangays,” Calonzo said.

He said the “myopic focus” on waste disposal—excluding toxics reduction at source and “zero waste”—has caused the unacceptable sitting of “glorified dumpsites” in ecologically sensitive places, such as the San Mateo landfill in the Marikina Watershed and the Ternate landfill in the Mt. Palay-Palay protected area in Cavite.

Worse, EcoWaste said: The NSWMC, which is under the Office of the President, has performed poorly in stopping acts explicitly prohibited by RA 9003.  –Jonathan Mayuga / Correspondent, Business Mirror