Sea of garbage

We keep landing in the news for all the wrong reasons.

The latest to attract global attention is the “sea of garbage” (as described by an international news outlet) that “blanketed” a river in Metro Manila. Specifically, the Redemptorist Water Channel in Baclaran, Parañaque.

Authorities said the garbage trap and trash flap in the channel were overwhelmed by the incessant rainfall combined with a high tide.

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez told One News’ “Storycon” last week that much of that sea of garbage flowed inland from Manila Bay, and not from his city, whose pumping stations worked well enough, he said, to make the floods subside in just three hours.

Wherever that garbage came from, it reflects badly on both the government (for inefficient garbage collection) and us, the Filipino people, for undisciplined waste disposal habits.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara wants solid waste management lessons to be taught in all schools. This will have to be accompanied by lessons at home, with adults reminding children from a young age to throw items such as candy wrappers in the trash can.

This presumes that there are trash bins, bags or some kind of waste receptacle in the house. Unfortunately, trash bags are a luxury for many households. Instead, garbage and food waste are collected in a pail or dust pan and dumped in the nearest neighborhood garbage pile. Household cleanliness is limited to NIMBY: not in my backyard.

For households located near a river or creek, the trash is simply dumped in the water. Even fecal waste ends up in some creeks.

In such neighborhoods, local governments must provide several covered areas where garbage can be dumped instead of on the sidewalk or in the nearest estero.

The lack of garbage receptacles for public use is one of the reasons why we have a serious littering problem. People may carry bags where used tissue or candy wrappers are kept briefly until a garbage bin can be found, but there are items that need to be discarded quickly, such as a cigarette butt or greasy food container. If there is no trash receptable nearby, the item will likely be discarded indiscriminately.

There are communities where residents are environmentally aware and cooperate in initiatives for trash segregation and composting of organic waste. But these are still the exceptions rather than the rule.

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In impoverished communities, trash segregation can be too much work. But certain communities have had some success in pera-sa-basura or similar schemes to provide various forms of compensation for segregated trash.

Teams may also be deployed to collect food and other organic waste from households, to be taken to a community composting area. The compost can then be sold.

For the long term, the government is working with the private sector to set up waste-to-energy facilities. The government sees the first WtE plant being rolled out within 18 months. If the pilot works, more may be built.

Despite advanced filters and high-heat incineration, burning solid waste still releases certain harmful particles into the atmosphere. Another concern is that WtE facilities require constant operation, which could be a problem when the garbage runs out.

Environment advocates are instead pushing for segregation and efficient waste disposal and collection.

This is the correct long-term response – good for the planet, and good all around. But it does not address the reality in our country, which is that too many people have little time, resources or interest in segregating their trash (unless they are paid for the segregated materials), or even bringing the garbage to the nearest receptable.

Singapore, known for its clean surroundings, and which has no space for landfills, has 90 percent of its solid waste processed into electricity in WtE facilities.

In our country, I doubt if we will ever run out of garbage to feed WtE incinerators within the foreseeable future. The landfills alone will provide enough trash to feed the incinerators for a long time. Landfills, incidentally, emit a huge amount of methane and carbon dioxide into the air, apart from being vermin magnets.

China, which has the world’s most extensive WtE network, is actually running out of trash. Learning from its experience, countries can calculate how many WtE facilities can function smoothly based on average daily waste collection.

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Earlier this year I visited the Baoshan WtE Center in Shanghai, developed into a public park with a Museum of Waste. From a glass wall, visitors can watch the arrival of trucks dumping municipal waste into a massive chamber with a mountain of garbage, which goes through  segregation before incineration.

Materials that are segregated and residue from incineration are converted into items such as bricks for paving and construction, and even wood-like materials for making furniture.

Outside, no smoke is visible from the incinerators. I thought I detected a whiff of burning trash in the four-hectare roof park, but my companions smelled nothing.

Opened last year, the Baoshan center can incinerate up to 3,000 tons of dry waste and harvest biogas from 8,000 tons of organic waste daily. The operators say that by diverting waste from landfills, approximately three million tons of carbon emissions are saved annually.

The US operates over 60 large WtE facilities. Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway also employ WtE. In Asia, Japan has over 300 WtE facilities; South Korea, over 400. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are ahead of us.

Older models of WtE plants have waste emission problems. If we’re pursuing this path, we must make sure that the best practices and latest technologies are employed.

Even President Marcos has acknowledged that the country faces a “critical” garbage situation. The country has enough problems. The last thing we need is to be known for having a sea of garbage.