EcoWaste Coalition Pushes Vigorous Enforcement of R.A. 9003 to Solve the Country’s Garbage Woes

The EcoWaste Coalition, a waste and pollution watch group, renewed its call towards the genuine enforcement of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act as the nation marks the 16th anniversary of its signing today.

Also known as R.A. 9003, the country’s principal waste law was signed on January 26, 2001 – six months after the Payatas dumpsite tragedy – by then President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It stipulates the “adoption of best environmental practices in ecological solid waste management, excluding incineration.”

“As R.A. 9003 turns 16 today, we ask the government and the private sector to invest more on real waste prevention and reduction solutions such as intensive segregation at source, composting and recycling, extended producer responsibility, and clean production to cut the volume and toxicity of what our society throws away,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

“We also ask Environment Secretary Gina Lopez to act on our petition to rescind the policy on waste-to-energy (WtE) disposal technologies adopted by the commission that she now heads as this will surely undermine the cleaner, socially-just and job-creating non-incineration approaches to managing discards,” she added.

Lucero was referring to the civil society’s petition demanding the repeal of Resolution 669 adopted by the National Solid Waste Management Commission on June 9, 2016, which provides for the “Guidelines Governing the Establishment and Operation of WtE Technologies for Municipal Solid Wastes.”

Burn or thermal WtE technologies discourage waste avoidance and volume reduction, while encouraging throw-away mentality to ensure steady feedstock for such facilities, the EcoWaste Coalition said.

To improve the enforcement of R.A. 9003, the EcoWaste Coalition reiterated the need for responsible government officials to implement the law faithfully, replicate and mainstream successful Zero Waste programs and initiatives, and hold recalcitrant national government agencies and local government units accountable for their failure to enforce the law.

The group cited the following as some of the most obvious violations of R.A. 9003:

1. The wanton disregard of specific acts prohibited by R.A. 9003 such as littering, open burning, open dumping, construction of dumps in environmentally critical areas, and the manufacture, distribution, use or importation of non-environmentally acceptable products and services;

2. The illegal operation of 400 open dumpsites and 178 controlled dumpsites across the country, which should have been closed in February 2004 and February 2006, respectively;

3. The construction and operation of so-called “sanitary landfills” in watershed areas, in flood-prone places and near water bodies, which receive mixed waste instead of just residuals; and the

4. The slow establishment of materials recovery facilities or MRFs in every barangay or cluster of barangays to assist with the segregation, composting and recycling of discards, and minimize the volume of residual waste requiring final storage or disposal.