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 Individual
ProjectsPhilippines
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Project Details
Bacolod
Location Description:
Bacolod City is located in the northwest coast of the island of
Negros. Bacolod is in the center of the main sugarcane growing region
of the Philippines and is also an important fishing port. The population
is approximately 400,000. The city won the national cleanest and
greenest award in 2000.
Activities:
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Supported the development of a waste management master plan for
the City including:
- establishment of baseline data on solid waste management in
Bacolod to enable better planning and management,
- review of compliance with health and safety regulations, and
- technical review of proposed new infrastructure requirements.
- Provided health and safety training for municipal staff and
scavengers including the provision of safety equipment.
- Initiated school and community education programs to encourage
recycling. All the public schools, (sixty–four in total) have started
to segregate recyclable materials and a few are composting organic
waste on site.
- Supported local junkers (recycling depot operators) to improve
their operations management and develop new lines of business. The
junkers in Bacolod have now formed a cooperative and have a revolving
loan fund for capital purchases. They are developing new business
lines in plastic and special metals recycling.
- Initiated community education though daily radio broadcasts
- Developed a solid waste management week – complete with
parade, workshops and posters, and the launch of the
‘Clean and Green’ program.
- Initiated improvements of the lives of wastepickers on the landfill
including:
- medical missions for basic health needs. This started as a
tetanus vaccination program after a scavenger at the landfill
developed a very bad infection from a puncture injury. ICSC workers
rushed him to hospital and had to personally pay for his treatment
in order to get medical aid. Later, health missions became a regular
part of program activities, and addressed concerns brought up by
the waste pickers or the doctors, including information on birth
control and AIDS. This was combined with health and safety seminars
to educate waste pickers on identification and handling of hazardous
waste.
- education and feeding program for children of waste pickers. This
began as a literacy program for the waste pickers, who soon requested
that ICSC do something for their children. The waste pickers rejected
the idea of sending their children to a nearby school, arguing that
they could not afford for the children to be off–site and not
working, the fees and uniforms cost too much and their kids would be
discriminated against because they smelt bad and were poor. So ICSC
helped them build a one–room school next to the dumpsite.
Students range in age from 3–22 and one child with Down’s
Syndrome has learned to speak for the first time.
- training programs for micro–enterprises were also
introduced, including electronic repair, dressmaking, fattening
pigs, and packaging and selling compost. This helped supplement
incomes in the short–term and was an important part of the
long–term solid waste management plan, because as landfill
sites become better regulated and managed, waste pickers will no
longer be able to rely on the landfill and will need other skills
to support themselves and their families.
- health and safety seminars to educate wastepickers on
identification and handling of hazardous waste.
- planting a garden helped improve nutrition and supported
the poorest families for three months when the landfill site
was closed for upgrades.
During the time of the project, Bacolod twice won the Philippine
‘Clean and Green’ award.
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Iloilo (Population 372,886)
Early on, the project established a community based model for
urban planning and project evaluation (stakeholder committee),
reviewed landfill operations plans and initiated landfill upgrades
including improving access roads and site illumination. ICSC minimized
its active involvement with the municipality when after assessing the
dynamics of local politics it became clear that despite the efforts
of the stakeholder committee, corrupt practices appeared to thwart
every initiative. Rather than waste project time and resources, with
the agreement of the stakeholders, ICSC concentrated its work in Bacolod.
Following a local election late in the project, the new administration
of Iloilo invited ICSC back and began focusing once again on its SWM
issues.
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