The Escopa Project, Philippines

We made presentations on waste management and what our organizations are doing in our countries to the Berkeley community at the Berkeley Ecology Center and at the annual convention of the California Resource Recovery Association. My presentation emphasized the decentralization of waste management to the barangay level, its advantages, specifically on collection efficiency (daily collection), minimal disposal cost and community involvement

I presented the 2 pilot projects on ecological waste management of 2 barangays, Barangay Escopa 2 and Barangay Talayan. Both of these barangays have established their MRFs as stated in RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. Barangay Escopa 2 is a socially marginalized community of about 330 households and 2,500 population and has no land space. The composting method is the rapid, above ground composting using rotating composting drums and the lactobacilli bacteria as activator. Compost is produced in 5 - 7 days. There are 4 eco-aides that collect the segregated waste from all the households daily. The clean recyclable are stored temporarily in a warehouse in the barangay for sale to the junk shops when the warehouse gets filled up. The cost of the program is $10,100 for the first year. The project was funded by the ADB (Asian Development Bank) Staff Community Fund.

Upper left: Collection of Foodwaste
within the barangay.
above: Barangay Escopa residents practicing composting

Note: Barangay is the smallest unit of
government in the Philippines.

Barangay Talayan Project

Barangay Talayan is a middle to high income community of about 350 households and a socially marginalized community of about 400 households. The total population is about 7000 and it has a big land space for its park. The composting method used is the windrow method and no activators are used. Compost is harvested in 30 - 40 days. The clean recyclable are stored in their warehouse and sold to the junk shops. There are 4 eco-aides that collect the segregated waste from the 350 households and there is a central collection point for the socially marginalized community to bring their segregated waste. The cost of the project is $8000 for the first year. The initial fund was provided by contributions from the residents and eventually from the barangay funds through the innovativeness of the barangay captain.