Segregation in Davao, It's a Must!

A month ago, I had the privilege of joining a half day seminar on Segregation of household wastes spearheaded by Brgy. Sasa of Davao City. City Councilor Marissa Abella was one of the guest speaker together with a CENRO official who shared their expertise on the matter.


Anyway, he's an online article from Mayor Sarah Duterte's Davao City News Blog which she shared to her followers on Facebook. To quote:

Davao’s ‘no segregation, no collection’ policy starts July 1

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/7 June) – Starting July 1, Davaoeños will have to segregate their garbage as the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) will start implementing the “no segregation, no collection” policy.
Dolores Remojo, environment chair of CENRO, made the announcement on the implementation of the city ordinance for ecological solid wastemanangement during the Kapihan sa Dabaw press forum at SM CityDavao on Monday.
Last May 3, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the city’s Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance of 2009 was approved and signed by Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. The ordinance is in line with Republic Act 9003, the Act Providing for Ecological Solid WasteManagement Program.
Out of 182 barangays in the city, 103 are accessible to garbage collectors. The rest could not avail of the service due to distance.
But Remojo said CENRO is working out to provide the service to all barangays.
She said that 95 of barangays have already been visited by the CENRO’s information education communication (IEC) teams. The IEC teams are actively going to the different barangays to orient officials on their participation, forming their respective barangay solid waste management committees.
Provisions related to the solid waste management plan, reduction and banning of the use of certain non-biodegradable products, proper disposal of carcass and excreta of animals, segregation of solid waste, collection and transport, materials recovery and processing, the IEC campaign, and penalties to be imposed are just some points tackled in the said ordinance.
Penalties in violating the ordinance include fines ranging from P300 to P5,000, community service, and imprisonment as long as six months.
As her closing note in the press forum, Remojo called for all the sectors in the city to cooperate in practicing waste segregation, where she said the initiative would not be successful without them. 

According to the CENRO official, which was also affirmed by Councilor Abella, wastes will be segregated into 4 different containers: Biodegradable Wastes, Non-Biodegradable Wastes, Special Wastes and Residual Wastes.

• Biodegradable wastes are wastes that rots. Left over food is an example of biodegradable waste.
• Non-Biodegradable wastes are wastes that can be sold. Such are selected plastics, cans, glasses.
• Residual Wastes are wastes that can't be recycled and can't be sold. Example of these are smoked cellophanes, rags, clothes, diapers, napkins, etc.
• Special Wastes are wastes that come from electrical and with toxic substances. These include dry cell batteries, electrical wires, fuse, light bulb, fluorescent lamps, etc.

Since biodegradable wastes can be made into compost and Non-Biodegradable wastes can be sold, ONLY the Residual and Special Wastes will be collected by the garbage trucks. Anybody caught violating the City Ordinance will be penalized accordingly, minimum of Php 300.00 - Php 5,000 penalty plus imprisonment depending on the violation (I will try to research and post the violations and penalties).


According to CENRO, they will be inspecting random houses within Davao City to check for the 4 segregating cans (sacks may also be used). Remember to label the cans as they will be checking for it also.


Additional tip, if you have pets at home, make sure that they poo and pee within your compound. The dog owner will be penalized, when caught by officials, should their dog poo and pee outside the compound.


I know that taking this into effect would require cooperation in the community and perseverance. To quote James Levine "A lot of people get impatient with the pace of change." and Winston Churchill, “There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”


Guys, let's do our share in helping the environment. Let's be pro-active instead of reactive.


Oh, and wait, before I wrap this blog entry, I would just like to share what I had read. These are the list of food / material and time to decompose:

• Banana Peel - 3 to 4 weeks
• Paper Bag - 1 month
• Cardboard - 2 months
• Wool Sock - 1 year
• Tin Steel Cans - 50 years
• Aluminum Cans - 200 to 500 years
• Disposable Diapers - 550 years
• Plastic Bags - 20 to 1,000 years
• Plastic Jugs - 1 million years
• Glass - 1 to 2 million years
• Styrofoam - 1+ million years

Another trivia guys, plastic shopping bags have a Biodegradable logo text already. That's certainly one good move.