Through Almira Louise S. MartinezReporter
The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Tuesday launched its 10-year Road to Zero Waste program, aiming to create a more sustainable future in the metro.
The 10-year roadmap envisions a ‘closed-loop system’ of solid waste management, with waste reduction, recycling and resource recovery leading to zero waste to landfills by 2034.
“The program aims to cover all types of waste using sustainable, practical and preferably local solutions and methods,” said MMDA Chairman Romando S. Artes at the Road to Zero Waste Summit 2024.
According to Mr. Artes, the agency aims to promote social and behavioral change in the National Capital Region (NCR) and “catalyze proactive actions.”
As cited in the 2023 Waste Analysis and Characterization Study in Metro Manila, MMDA reported that 21.44% of municipal waste can be recycled. Meanwhile, 85% of waste on the public market is compostable.
Mr. Artes added that local government units (LGUs) have difficulty collecting all community-generated waste because citizens throw it into bodies of water such as rivers, which increases flooding during calamities.
In line with this, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has urged all LGUs to participate and pay due attention to the implementation of Metro Manila’s sustainability initiative.
“I think it is very important that LGUs and the Filipino citizens themselves inculcate what the government is teaching us,” DILG Assistant Secretary for Local Government Jessi Howard S. Lanete told BusinessWorld.
“Walang bagong Pilipinas kung walang bagong Pilipino [We can’t change the Philippines if we can’t change ourselves,”] he added.