THE POLITICS OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

THE POLITICS OF WASTE MANAGEMENT It has been many years since the advocacy for the environment was started. Many of my friends in the movement have already died, and I am afraid that those who are still alive might also pass away without our environment becoming cleaner and safer, among other goals. I have studied the reasons why we are still failing, and I have concluded that the problem is the politics behind waste management. It is no secret that some mayors are making money from the hauling fees and the tipping fees that are part of the waste management process. The commissions or kickbacks from the hauling fees and the tipping fees are computed on a per trip basis, meaning that the more trips there are, the more commissions will be paid. That is clearly the reason why Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) are not succeeding in many LGUs, because there is a conflict of interests. The reason for the conflict of interests is very simple. The more materials are recovered from the MRFs, the lesser waste could be hauled. That is the reason why segregated wastes in plastic bags are still thrown in by garbage collectors into the trucks, because these bags could add to the volume of cargo, and the more volume means more trips and more trips means more commissions. Supposedly, only sanitary landfills are now allowed, because dumpsites are now banned. Unfortunately, some mayors could not tell the difference between these two, and even if they do, they probably do not bother to know the difference, for as long as the garbage hauled are dumped into any of these two, and that way, they could earn their commissions from the tipping fees. Supposedly, there should be MRFs that are located near the sanitary landfills, such that the materials that are recovered from the MRFs will lessen the volume of non-recyclables that will be buried in the landfills. Take note that these landfills are supposed to be compliant with environmental standards, meaning that they should be more than holes in the ground. But is the DENR regularly inspecting the compliance of the LGUs to these standards? Or is the DILG also inspecting? If not these two agencies, who is doing the inspections? IKE SENERES/07-21-2024