GARBAGE ISN’T GARBAGE if you segregate it. And there’s money in it, too.

These are just some of the lessons chairpersons from eight barangays in Tayuman, Manila, have learned and are putting into practice in their areas through the installation of material recovery facilities (MRFs).

With valuable help from environmental group Alaga Lahat and the Immaculate Conception Parish (ICP), which partnered for the project “Zero-Waste ICP Tayuman,” the eight barangays have become fitting models for a more sustainable effort in addressing the perennial garbage problem.

“As much as possible, nothing is given to garbage trucks. The biodegradables go to compost heaps while the nonbiodegradables go to the recycling facilities,” said actress Chin-Chin Gutierrez, Alaga Lahat’s founding chair and president.

But why just eight barangays? Gutierrez explained that they invited 44 barangays under the parish of Msgr. Matt Garcia, but only a handful responded to their call to undergo a two-week training program sponsored by skincare brand Godiva in May.

“We want to create a zero-waste society, not a janitorial system where you gather garbage and dump it in another place. If nonbiodegradables and biodegradables are not mixed, these are not considered garbage,” said Roy Alvarez, founding member of Alaga Lahat and one of the trainers.

Since then, participants have begun installing MRFs, albeit at their own pace and style, and according to their needs.

Under the project, the barangay chairs will be in charge of teaching residents in their areas to segregate their garbage. The biodegradables will be turned into compost while the nonbiodegrables will be sold to recycling shops.

Chair Reuben Beltran of Barangay 248 Zone 22, for example, chose a sidewalk corner for their humble MRF, which was considered 50 percent compliant with its separate composting and recyclable pit. The area is gated and decorated with potted plants, with a compost pit in the works.

Beltran admitted it wasn’t easy to start the MRF especially since they were funding it. He added that he was still courting some 200 households in his area to participate in the project.

“It’s really a challenge to me, but I only have a small barangay. So if bigger barangays can do it, why can’t we? There are others who still don’t believe in the project, but I just tell them it’s better if we start it,” he said, adding that he was willing to go house-to-house to convince the skeptics.

In the long run, Beltran said the MRF would definitely generate additional income for their barangay.

Urging his officers to be role models, on the other hand, was Barangay 238 chair Ronnie Luna’s strategy.

“I told them it was best to start with our homes because this wasn’t only for the barangay but for nature, too,” he said in Filipino.

Unlike in Beltran’s barangay, Luna built a “steel cage” with four divisions for the various kinds of recyclables like plastic, glass, paper and steel. A compost pit was built on a separate sidewalk but it has yet to be used.

Though they still have a long way to go, the local leader stressed that they learned a lot from the training program, starting with sharing a deep concern for the environment.

“The landfills could close by 2009. Already, there have been a lot of confrontations and ugly fights about the issue. You think that you’re safe when you’ve gotten the garbage out of your house but the problem doesn’t go away,” he said.

A construction firm that was putting up a building in their area, on the other hand, was an answered prayer for Barangay 247 chair Sally Li Dy as they were able to build their steel MRF for free.

Though still unused because it still needs a paint job, Dy, whose area is composed of mostly Chinese-Filipino families, said the MRF project was warmly welcomed by the community.

“They were happy about the project, they think it’s okay. But of course, the others are not used to it. It’s just a matter of getting accustomed to it,” she said.

Leaving the MRFs in the hands of the barangay was part of the project’s effort to instill responsibility, said Gutierrez. The smallest units of government, after all, were the ones tasked to implement Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

“The government went for it without knowing or feeling the enormous tasks and change of habits and lifestyle,” said a visibly disappointed Alvarez. “It may take a while for the entire country to follow the law. We’ve become a throw-away society.”

Which is why during training programs, the actor incorporated his concept of “inner and outer ecology” to inculcate the need to start the change from within.

“The cause is the inner, the effect is the outer. When a person finds out the who, the how follows,” he said.

The acronym Lahat, stressed Gutierrez, means Lupa (Earth), Apoy (Fire), Hangin (Wind), Tubig (Water), to represent the four elements, and “Ako” or the self, as the fifth (and just as important) element.

Msgr. Garcia agreed, as he believed that espousing “eco-spirituality” or dignity in cleanliness gives more lasting results.

“Unlike others who are ningas-kugon, I think here, we’re touching minds and hearts. These (MRFs) are good models for a sustained effort. It all boils down to spirituality, or the responsibility to others, to nature and God,” he added.

Even Tondo’s reputation as a place full of garbage and teeming with criminals would be eventually erased, thanks to the project, Msgr. Garcia said.

“We are trying to clean up. It’s a tall order, but we have started and I’m happy this is happening now. I am so proud of this program that we are beginning to introduce it to other parishes,” he said.