Taking Out the Trash

Picking through trash at Payatas landfill (Photo: Ric Rocamora)

A mountain of garbage at a Metro Manila dump in Payatas turned into an avalanche this summer and buried alive more than 200 residents. In the wake of this tragedy, advocates Genee Mislang and Jun Narvadez of Tanggol Kalikasan traveled to the United States to work with E-LAW U.S. on sustainable solutions to Manila`s waste crises.

Tanggol Kalikasan is the legal arm of the Philippines` largest environmental organization, the Haribon Foundation.

In Eugene, Genee worked with E-LAW U.S. lawyers and scientists to research waste reduction management strategies around the world, including ways to rehabilitate the Payatas dump and other landfills that lack environmental safeguards. Genee also worked with E-LAW U.S. staff to strengthen a draft medical waste bill being considered by the Philippines Congress.

En route to the U.S., Genee and Jun met with Canadian government officials in Montreal to discuss a model waste project for Lucena, a city of about 100,000 people 70 miles south of Manila.

"We are looking for sustainable solutions. We hope the project in Lucena will be a model for other cities. Waste reduction is the key. We need to learn how to reduce, re-use and recycle," says Genee.

Manila`s 10 million inhabitants produce some 6,000 tons of garbage every day. Since the closing of the Payatas dump, most of Manila`s garbage is trucked to San Mateo in Rizal province. Meanwhile, the Metro Manila Development Authority is prospecting for new landfill sites in nearby provinces.

But finding takers for Manila`s trash is not easy. Many Filipinos think Manila`s waste should be managed and disposed of in Manila, not in someone else`s backyard. When President Estrada ordered the re-opening of the Carmona landfill in Cavite province, local residents joined their vice mayor in opposing that decision.

"The Carmona dump lacks a system to contain contaminated leachate. We use the media and public education campaigns to inform residents of the danger," says Genee. The Carmona dump was shut down in 1998 after protests by local residents. TK is now representing Carmona residents opposing the re-opening of the dump.

E-LAW U.S. is helping public interest lawyers around the world work with local communities to take on environmental problems caused by mountains of waste.

Sarah Grimm of BRING Recycling leads E-LAW visitors on a tour of Eugene`s waste transfer and recycling station. From left to right: Sarah Grimm; Fernando Baptista, Brazil; Maria Luisa Acosta, Nicaragua; Jane Engert, E-LAW U.S.; Genee Mislang and Jun Narvadez, Philippines.

In Nepal, E-LAW U.S. is helping advocates at Pro Public challenge a short-sighted plan to build an 8-kilometer, unlined trench for garbage along the Bagmati River, through the center of Kathmandu. Pro Public is seeking an order from the Supreme Court to halt work on the plan.

E-LAW U.S. faxed Pro Public U.S. EPA documents showing how unlined dumps can leach toxic substances and cost millions to clean up. In the case`s first hearing, the Supreme Court issued a Show Cause order requiring the proponents of the garbage trench to document the safety of their scheme.

In Sri Lanka, advocates at the Environmental Foundation, Ltd. (EFL) are challenging a proposed regulation that would allow Sri Lankan companies to import plastic wastes. E-LAW U.S. is providing EFL with evidence that plastic wastes are mixed with toxic contaminants that must be discarded by countries importing plastic, as well as information about pollutants that result from reprocessing plastic.

In the United Kingdom, environmental advocates are challenging a new waste policy that calls for increased waste incineration. E-LAW U.S. provided advocates with critical information from the EPA`s new dioxin reassessment showing that waste incinerators in the U.S. are the single largest source of dioxin emissions and that dioxins are more potent carcinogens than previously believed. Advocates in England are using this information to push for a waste policy that emphasizes waste reduction and recycling, not incineration.

Since 1993, E-LAW U.S. has responded to requests for assistance from environmental advocates seeking solutions to waste problems in 24 countries. "We can`t keep generating more waste and building bigger holes to put it in. We need to re-use materials, recycle products and reduce the amount of garbage we generate. We do not want our children to inherit an earth overrun by trash," says Bern Johnson, E-LAW U.S. Executive Director.