Incentives for sustainable waste management participation

Remember the time when Cebu City was the country’s COVID-19 epicenter? Remember how Cebu City struggled but successfully coped with COVID-19 containment then?

The significant role of the public, the barangays, their officials and residents, deserve special mention in the fight against the virus, then and now.

Once the barangays understood and realized how the COVID-19 virus was spreading through their communities daily (from reliable visual data shared through intensive public information campaign done by public and private COVID-19 data trackers), they rallied together, cooperated in tracking COVID-19 cases, formed COVID-19 information, communication and response networks, imposed regulations, set up isolation centers, and collaborated to keep the cases down and contain the virus

Like the COVID-19 containment drive, the campaign to manage waste can benefit from the involvement and participation of each and everyone, including the crucial role of the barangays.

How can the whole of Cebu City rally to contain and manage waste? These two initial suggestions:

First, the city government has to urgently/immediately address the issue about how to manage the city’s present daily huge waste volume and remaining budget.

Second, launch intensive information campaign to involve schools, churches, business, industry, communities, all others, to participate in a more effective waste campaign and management.

It may be wise for the present administration to rethink its present policy of centralized, contractor-based waste management, and immediately, shift the remaining waste budget to support a more participative waste management scheme where the public, the communities and other participants can partner together to manage waste, just like the campaign against COVID-19!

In case the present Labella team insists on using the remaining budget for their selected contractor, perhaps it is time for the public to decide to bring this matter for review and investigation before the City Council, the court, or the Ombudsman?

The public deserves to have the present waste contract and budget allocation thoroughly examined to check if public funds have been judiciously spent.

Hopefully, city officials can themselves be guided to wisely do the thorough review and decide about waste budget and management based on reliable, correct data.

After the DPS report that two-thirds of the city wastes have been collected by DPS and the barangay trucks, which is wiser for the City Council to do; to continue to pay P1,800 per ton to the sole contractor that has collected only a third of city waste or to allow DPS and the barangays (that have more than the sole contractor’s 13 trucks) to collect and transport the city wastes more efficiently and for less budget?

Involving barangays will a.) Immediately address the problem of daily waste, b.) Broaden participation for waste segregation and sustainable waste management, and, c.) Redirect the budget to be used for people and communities, instead of waste!

How can barangays, residents, all others be encouraged to more responsibly manage their waste?

The barangays, all others, rallied to contain the virus after knowing and understanding reliable information about COVID-19 and what to do when they experienced COVID-19 symptoms.

The same can be done for waste --immediately start an intensive public information, communication, education campaign showing reliable barangay and city-wide waste data (volume, composition and characterization, budget) and more importantly, include clear, alternative options, including incentives, for responsible waste management!

Infographs, maps and other visuals about barangay and city waste data and waste management options can be widely disseminated daily, through various forms of media.

The Cebu City government can redirect the remaining waste budget to provide clear information and guidelines about responsible waste management.

Like the locally- and globally-awarded San Francisco, Camotes sitio waste management model, the city government can even offer incentives for alternative, creative, effective, participatory sustainable waste management!