EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Increased generation of solid waste is often

linked to population growth and economic

Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the Ecological
activity has become a major source of
Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, was
concern in terms of human health and
passed by the Philippine Congress on
ecological integrity in the Philippines.
December 20, 2000 and was later approved
Plastic cups, plastic bottles, plastic bags and
by the President's Office on January 26,
even most of our foods and necessities were
2001. It is organized into 66 sections and
packed using plastics. Based on the 2018
contains seven (7) chapters that carry out the
projected report of Robert-David and
policy direction for the country's effective
Guerrero, 27% of the total generated waste
solid waste management program. Solid
across the country was plastic labo, 4% was
waste management is defined as the control
from Rebisco Republic Biscuit Corp., both
of solid waste formation, storage, collection,
5% were from PT Mayora/Torabika and
transfer, transport, processing, and disposal,
Universal Robina, 6% from ice candy
as defined by the Ecological Solid Waste
sachet, 7% from Procter and gamble, 9%
Management Act of 2000 (RA 9003). The
from Unilever, 11% from sando bag, 12%
Act establishes a comprehensive ecological
from Nestle while the rest 14% was from the
solid waste management program by
other brands.
establishing the necessary institutional
mechanisms and impulses, allocating
finances, outlawing certain acts, and
assessing penalties. 
Waste mismanagement has serious
environmental consequences, making the
passage of Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the
Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of
2000, a watershed moment in Philippine
environmental legislation. The law was
drafted in response to the country's These relevant data were also both
impending waste problems. RA 9003 processed by ASPBI from 2009-2016 while
establishes the state's policy of enforcing a 2000-2012 by CPBI. EMB 2015 and World
systematized, comprehensive, and Bank reported that the world’s daily waste
ecological solid waste management program segregation was around 39,422 tons in 2015
that ensures public health and environmental report and which was expecting to double up
protection, as well as proper solid waste in 2025 due to increasing consumption
segregation, collection, transportation, pattern (economic development, population
storage, treatment, and disposal through the growth and urbanization) if left
expression and implementation of best unrecognized, this may lead to a exacerbate
environmental practices. This is in order to problems such as floods, shift in climate
foster a further satisfactory system that is in patterns, pollutions and more exposure to
line with the purpose of long-term other disaster risks that can possibly harm
development. the land, rivers, wildlife habitats, ecosystem,
Avoid, Reduction, Reuse and even human health.
Trim it down!
On the 2015 annual projected report on
NSWMC, from 2008-2020 Metro Manila
consumed 2,990,814 metric tons (MT) of
solid waste materials on 2008 and doubled
up to 4,441,634 MT on 2020 while
13,481,326 MT to 15,628,026 MT across the
country with a total accumulated number of
7M metric tons on 2020. 52.31% of it were
biodegradables, 27.79% were recyclables
(8.7% - papers and cardboards, 10.55% -
plastics, 4.22% - metals, 2.34% - glass,
1.61% textile and 0.37% - leather and
rubber) 17.98% were residual while the
1.93% was special. 56.7% of these solid
waste materials were from residential areas,
27.1% were from commercial areas (18.3% -
market and 8.8% - other commercial) 12.1%
from institutional areas while the 4.1% left
was from industrial areas.
To sum up, most of the solid waste materials
collected were from Metro Manila, most
part of these were plastics which mostly
from commercial areas. On the other hand,
majority of the plastic consumption
nationwide were from our food packs and
utility goods/necessities that we consume in
our daily life. Take note that plastic items
took over 1000 years to decompose in
landfills while the plastic bags we often use
take 10-20 years to decompose and plastic
bottles took 450 years which is why solid
waste itself is one of the never-ending
problems encountered in the Philippines.
Therefore, solid waste generation in our
country is not surprisingly to reach up to
17M metric tons from 2008-2020.
(Line graph)
Critique on Policy Options
Establishing Proper Urban Waste
Disposal facilities in every Municipality is a
big challenge for the implementation of R.A.
9003. This is the main cause why the wastes
collected are still unorganized and not
properly disposed of. In the latest count,
there are 237 operational Sanitary Landfills
(SLF) established in the Philippines.
Moreover, there are approximately 335 open
dumpsites closed by the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) this year, while there 11 SLF are
still under construction. Despite having
official SLFs established around the
Philippines, according to Crispian Lao, 70%
of the Filipinos still have no access to
disposal facilities and SLFs.
Another challenge in this policy is that
establishments in the Philippines are still
allowed to use Plastics and Single-used
packaging for their products, while their
consumers’ waste management practices did
not also help, as they are not properly
disposing of their rubbish after using the
particular product’s plastic packaging.
Moreover, wastes collected, especially those
plastics, has a low recycling rate among all
the wastes. According to Crispian Lao, the
Philippines are more focused on high-value
plastic recycling than those low-value,
which people commonly used than the high-
value. This low recycling rate leads to
uncontrolled disposal of Plastic materials.
Policy Recommendation
Proper waste disposal and management can
be done by applying the 3R – Reduce, Reuse
and Recycle. Reducing means lessening the
amount of trash/garbage produced. Reusing
refers to using materials more than once and
recycling means creating new material or
product out of trash/garbage. We should
start practicing proper waste management at
home and in our community because it
decreases the amount of waste for disposal,
saves space in landfills, and conserves
natural resources.

Encourage small business to use eco-

friendly packaging to reduce plastics and
here are the benefits it reduces carbon
footprints, biodegradable, easily disposable,
no harmful toxins and easy to reuse or
recycle. Plastics takes many years for them
to decompose. In addition, toxic substances
are released into the soil when plastic perish
under sunlight and, if plastic are burned,
they release a toxic substance into the air
causing ambient air pollution.