QC to start garbage-reducing program covering all barangays on July 1

Segregate your trash or we won’t collect it.

Starting July 1, the Quezon City government will start implementing a “no segregation, no collection” policy in all of the city’s villages.

In a statement, the Quezon City Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department (EPWMD) said the program was aimed at reducing and minimizing the garbage generated by households in addition to diverting at least 50 percent of the collected solid waste which ends up in the city’s sanitary landfill.

It added that the policy—which was in line with the city’s “Hiwa-hiwalay na Basura sa Barangay (village)” program—was also meant to teach residents to reuse and recycle.

Under the program, biodegradable trash will be picked up twice a week while recyclables will be taken to the barangay’s Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

According to the statement, unsegregated garbage will not be collected and their owners will be given notices of violation.

To ensure that the program will be implemented without a hitch, a dry run will be implemented in the first two weeks. During this period, trash will be picked up thrice a week—biodegradable on Mondays and Wednesdays and non-biodegradables and residual waste on Fridays.

The EPWMD said the program would be implemented in six identified service areas which would cover all villages in Quezon City, except for Barangay Holy Spirit which has an independent waste collection system.

Sought for comment, some residents said that while they were in favor of the program, the mechanics seemed complicated.

“The move to segregate trash collection is actually okay but it seems difficult on the part of the residents. It seems like there’s so many things to remember and I’m just talking about the schedule. We have to keep in mind which trash to take out on which day,” Regina Baroma, a 25-year-old college teacher and resident of Barangay Culiat, told the Inquirer in Filipino.

According to her, the city government should first ensure that all villages have an MRF before it implements the program.

A call center agent, Carlo Benitez of Barangay Santol, said that while the segregation scheme was reasonable, he had doubts about how the villages would go about doing their part in the program.

“Most likely, they’ll just stash [the recyclables] in a corner, unless someone buys them which is rare.”

Quezon City Liga ng mga Barangay councilor Ranulfo Ludovica, in a statement, said the program, which would help fight pollution, would only work if everyone participated.