Barangay Bagumbuhay in Quezon City along with Barangays Sunvalley and Teoville Village in Parañaque were featured in the global report for meeting high waste diversion and recycling targets. “The successful experiences of these barangays prove that systematic segregation and recycling of waste is not a pipe dream. With a little political will and a dose of creativity on the part of our local officials, these projects could be replicated on a truly national scale” according to Gigie Cruz, GAIA spokesperson.

According to Resources up in Flames, prepared by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) in Washington, D.C. for GAIA, municipal solid waste incinerators—no matter where they are built—have numerous liabilities. In addition to generating pollution and harming public health, they:

· Place huge financial burdens on host communities;
· Drain local communities of financial resources;
· Waste energy and materials;
· Thwart local economic development;
· Undermine waste prevention and rational approaches to discard management;
· Have an operating experience checkered with problems;
· Can go financially bankrupt from tonnage shortfalls; and
· Often leave citizens and taxpayers paying the bill. 

Notes Sonia Mendoza of the Mother Earth Unlimited, a member of GAIA: “The report strengthens RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act to decentralize waste management to the barangay level, enforce segregation of waste at source, compost the biodegradables, recycle the bulk of the non-biodegradables to divert as much as 80% of the waste going to the dumpsite. This reinforces the fact that incineration and other end-of-pipe solutions can never be a viable discards management option. ”

While the report introduces the concept and need for zero waste planning and highlights the growing worldwide zero-waste movement and numerous examples of communities embracing such an approach, it emphasizes that non-burn alternatives are within reach of communities today and can pay immediate economic dividends. In the global South, where organic material—yard trimmings and food scraps—is the single largest component of the waste stream, appropriately designed composting programs will be the easiest, quickest, and least-expensive method to divert discards from disposal.

Resources up in Flames: The Economic Pitfalls of Incineration versus a Zero Waste Approach in the Global South is a 75-page report, supported by more than 100 footnotes. It contains hard-hitting facts, model programs, and failed incinerator examples. The first half of the report is devoted to the economic problems posed by incinerators and includes a section on how to evaluate a planned incinerator. The second half focuses on non-burn alternatives readily available, and concludes with a 10-step plan for getting starting on the path toward zero waste at the local level. The report is available as a PDF file on GAIA’s web site, located at http://www.no-burn.org. It is being translated into 22 languages including Filipino. Resources up in Flames is the third report published by GAIA since it was formed in December 2000. GAIA released The World Bank Group and Incineration: Bankrolling Dirty Technologies in 2002 and Waste Incineration: A Dying Technology in 2003.

Mother Earth Unlimited is a non-government organization comprised of mothers, artists, lawyers, the religious, students, businessmen, scientists organized in 1998 by a group of environmental activists. We were an active member of the Clean Air Coalition and the Eco Waste Coalition that lobbied for the passage of 2 environmental laws, The Clean Air Act and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. Both laws prohibit incineration of solid waste. Our main thrust at present is conducting free workshops on ecological waste management and providing technical assistance to establish Materials Recovery Facilities to the different sectors of society, barangays, schools, religious communities, business establishments, and civic organizations.

GAIA is an international alliance of community-based organizations, research and policy advocacy institutions, citizen pressure groups and other nonprofit organizations and individuals working to end the burning of all types of discards and to promote clean production, zero waste, and sustainable waste management systems. It has offices in Quezon City, the Philippines and Berkeley, California. For more information on GAIA, log onto its web site at www.no-burn.org.

Media contacts:

Gigie Cruz/Abigail Jabines, GAIA Office, Philippines
Tel: (+632) 929 0376, Fax: (+632) 436 4733,
E-mail: gigie.gaia at no-burn.org ,