(EID-022) “RECYCLING STANDARDS”

Where voluntary cooperation is not possible, there ought to be laws that would regulate the compulsory recycling of post consumer waste by commercial and industrial producers. In many countries for instance, producers of consumer products including publishers are required to use paper materials with a minimum content derived from recycled post consumer waste. Citing another example, local governments in many countries regulate the redemption values of returnable bottles and other containers. Is this a difficult thing to do in a country that is supposed to have a very high literacy rate?

As it is always said, all politics is local, and that means that governance should have a local focus too. This is perhaps the reason why in many other countries, regulations for the recycling of post consumer waste are usually issued by local governments and this is very practical, because only the local authorities would have the resources to follow through with the rules in the micro level.

Here in the Philippines, it seems that the lack of laws for regulating post consumer waste at the local level is brought about either by the lack of knowledge or the lack of interest. Either way, this is where local environment advocates could become active, by promoting the passage of municipal ordinances, at the same time promoting the awareness and appreciation for these ordinances.

It is ironic to note that here in the Philippines, there seems to be a free for all situation in the use of non-biodegradable packaging for consumer products, as well as for fast food items. For example, it is very common for fast food companies to use plastic cups and Styrofoam containers for dine in items, when it fact these should only be used for take out items.

It would be good to have local ordinances that would encourage fast food outlets to collect and segregate their own post consumer waste, but if that is not possible, they should probably just award the waste collection and segregation business to multi-purpose cooperatives.

It is relatively easy to establish and register a cooperative with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). However, if there are local groups that would have any difficulty in doing that, I could gather volunteers who could help them. Now that we have a mechanism to enable us to succeed, we should not let this opportunity pass.