Throwing away the throw-away mentality
Kuala Lumpur’s landscape has vastly changed, almost 20 years after my last visit. Aside from being immediately struck by its government’s prioritization of efficiency and information technology (take note, Philippines, paper arrival cards for visitors have been discarded) and of the mass transit system, among others, I was impressed by the still smog-free skyline, amid the visible construction boom and the growing traffic congestion.
The separate receptacles for plastic, paper and aluminum discards in public places were quite visible. Streets and public spaces were free of litter.
While I am not familiar with the country’s implementation of its solid waste management laws, I can only surmise the huge efforts made and the challenges ahead for Malaysia in managing its natural resources and guiding stakeholders to be more ecologically conscious amid growing prosperity. The country is now described as an “advanced emerging economy,” with the vision to become a fully-developed nation by 2020 as set forth in Wawasan 2020 or Vision 2020, a brainchild of the former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
In any country, the Philippines included, development, urbanization and urban migration always take their toll on the environment. The philosophy of mindless consumerism has prevailed and the throw-away culture, in lieu of stewardship, has become the way of life.
We have forgotten that any impact on our life support system affects all of us. We do not see nor care where the plastic bottle that we so carelessly drink water from ends up.
Indeed, how many are truly conscious of our interconnectedness with each other and with nature in making decisions, whether as a consumer or as producer on a day-to-day basis?
Waste management is an area that has proven to be a bane to many. Special mention is made of the public officials entrusted with the responsibility to educate citizens and entities in ecologically managing waste, that is, in a highly-responsible way.
It is difficult to understand why local government units (LGUs) are prioritizing waste collection over teaching the constituents to take responsibility for reducing and managing their wastes and being responsible for the consequences of violations.
Local chief executives, with the support of the local sanggunian, are at liberty to allocate hundred of millions of pesos of taxpayers’ hard-earned money for tipping fees in collecting garbage, without even attempting to seriously implement our environmental laws. They conveniently forget that it is their primary and shared responsibility with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other agencies to protect our right to a healthy environment and enforce anti-pollution statutes, such as the Solid Waste Management Law, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
One of the reasons most LGUs fail in their devolved duty of environmental protection to us, citizens, is their gross inability to mobilize public participation in crafting policies and programs, irrespective of political affiliation.
Why is it that many LGUs have not even obtained approval from the National Solid Waste Management Commission of a publicly participated solid waste management plan? How many have even embarked on massive environmental education campaigns in partnership with the academe and other stakeholders? How many have taken the essential step of characterizing their waste stream? Without this necessary data, how can plans be made to effectively minimize, reduce and manage the wastes and do away with the throw-away culture?
Instead, we now see a tendency for LGU officials who are eager-beavers when it comes to instant wastes disposal, in considering proposed wastes being collected and incinerated through the so-called waste-to-energy technology (WTE). Incineration is banned under the Clean Air Act. Don’t they know that? WTE technology is anathema to the segregation policy mandated by RA 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law. Don’t they know that as well, as they have not been made to account for the massive failure to implement said law in their respective jurisdictions?
Only a handful of committed LGU officials have even taken the initiative of managing household electronic wastes, another directive of RA 9003.
We wish for that day when each child, woman and man will willfully separate the battery, lights, computer and cellphone discards from the usual household wastes, with LGUs arranging with service providers to handle them, instead of trashing everything for transport to the dump sites.
We also wish for the day when manufacturers will readily produce goods that do not destroy our ecosystems and take ownership of the responsibility “for the entire life-cycle of the product, especially for the take-back, recycling and final disposal” (Wikipedia).
Looking at the pictures of the tons of debris scattered in the devastated typhoon-struck communities, I can only pray for the safety of the people. They were, and some are still, unknowingly enveloped by the emissions from mercury and other hazardous substances emanating from the goods broken and carried away by the swirling waters and the strong winds.
Ecological solid waste management is one of the essential approaches that need to be integrated into our lives and in rebuilding lives and homes in the devastated communities.
Starting anew should mean starting fresh in a life that should nurture, not destroy, nature. Is this not what inter-generational responsibility is all about?
It is indeed time to throw away the throw-away mentality.
