EXTERNALITIES OF THE SANITARY LANDFILL PROJECT IN THE CITY OF PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN1

Patrick A. Regoniela and Christine S. Dadorb

a Associate Professor Palawan State University Graduate School Manalo Campus 5300 Puerto Princesa City

Project Coordinator Tagbalay Foundation, Inc. Rizal Avenue 5300 Puerto Princesa City

ABSTRACT

The management of the first local government unit-operated sanitary landfill in the Philippines located at Barangay Sta. Lourdes, City of Puerto Princesa was examined in the light of on-going practices of segregation and disposal of domestic wastes at the landfill site. On-site visit and interview of solid waste management (SWM) personnel and people living near the dumpsite were conducted to gather information on waste management practices. Particular attention was given to about fifty informal segregators, a group of scavengers, who intertwined their activities in the landfills operation. The scavengers, given specific time to thresh out food and non-food items from the solid wastes delivered by the dump trucks to the transfer station, became an integral part of the facility's daily routine. Considerable income was derived by the scavengers through recycling and reusing otherwise unusable items, such that their life depended to a large degree on wastes carried by the garbage trucks to the landfill. The sanitary landfill management benefits from the scavengers' activity because their action speeds up waste segregation and reduces the need for additional personnel to handle the job while at the same time compensating for failure of city residents to segregate at source. However, a shift in the focus of scavenging activity appears to take place due to improving segregation practices at source.

A paper presented during the 6th Annual Scientific Convention of the Philippine Society for the Study of Nature, Inc. (PSSN) held on May 15-21, 2006 at Kapalong, Davao del Norte with the theme Becoming and Being One with Nature.

Introduction
One of the hounding issues municipal governments face is the sound disposal of wastes generated by its citizenry. This is all the more of increasing concern with the advent of new technologies that turn out residuals which must be handled with care. Health-threatening outcomes of improper waste disposal led to the development of technologies and waste management practices vital to sustaining economic growth in municipalities. Lately, in the country, the institution of the sanitary landfill as a solution to the overwhelming concern on residuals appeared to be the desirable and only solution to get rid of perennial wastes generated by a consumptive society. This is more so considering that the Philippine government, through RA 9003 of 2000, phased out open dumping in favor of sanitary landfills. Ideally, the operation of a landfill requires segregation at source, separating at the basic level, the biodegradable from the non-biodegradable items. In reality, segregation is not thoroughly practiced by the city residents. Jasper (2006) noted non-observance of segregation at source. The wastes get mixed up in garbage bins, either due to nonsegregation by residents or during collection. It is at the landfill site that wastes get segregated, not only by the sanitary landfill personnel but by so-called scavengers who had closely interwoven their lifestyles with other peoples refuse. The unsolicited role of scavengers in carrying out a task of segregation required in a sanitary landfill is a positive externality benefiting three sectors: the scavengers themselves, the landfill personnel and the city residents. Scavengers obtain useful residuals from the wastes segregated, the landfill personnel are freed of the task of sorting out/classifying wastes for disposal, and the citizenrys inability to segregate are patched up by the scavengers activity. Along this line, this study explores details on the scavengers activity, a peek into the benefit they gain from sorting out otherwise unusable refuse and just how they have intertwined themselves with sanitary landfill operation. It likewise investigated the implications of stricter measures employed by the city government in managing wastes and the scavengers apparent dependence on wastes as a source of livelihood. The Study Area The Puerto Princesa City Sanitary Landfill The local government of Puerto Princesa utilized a portion of land formerly a quicksilver mine at Barangay Sta. Lourdes as open dumpsite for several years. This is located approximately 12 kilometers north southeast of city proper (Figure 1). When the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003) was enacted in 2000, the city government conceptualized and started its Solid Waste Management Program (SWMP). This included the establishment of a 33-hectare sanitary landfill that will address the need for sophisticated and efficient management of increased waste materials turnover coming from an ever growing city population. This was situated alongside the open dumpsite.

Fig. 1. Location map of the sanitary landfill in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

3 The Puerto Princesa Sanitary Landfill Project, a PhP170 million project, is the first local government unit-controlled waste management facility in the country. It was established by the City Government of Puerto Princesa through the Asian Development Bank-financed Philippines Regional Municipal Development Project (PRMDP) of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). The project aims to address the projected municipal solid waste generation in the city by providing adequate disposal facility over the next 20 years in an environmentally acceptable manner that poses the least risk to the general population. This project was established pursuant with the provision of Republic Act 9003 also known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 mandating cities and municipalities to have a safe and sanitary management of solid wastes generated in areas under its geographic and political coverage. There shall be no dwelling units closer than 500 meters to any portion of the premises designated as disposal area.

Method
A series of site visits were made on the sanitary landfill site at the end of October 2005 and another series at the later part of March 2006. The first series of visits were done mainly to explore issues and concerns about the landfill as well as document practices for more detailed study. The second series searched for more detail on the scavengers activities. Interviews were made with people living near and derive benefit from the wastes disposed in the site and also the staff of the Solid Waste Management Project. During the first series there were about a hundred scavengers getting their way on the wastes dumped in the area. During the second series where details were obtained from the respondents, this number was reduced to half and all of them were interviewed upon consent. The total number of respondents consisted of 44 scavengers and 29 sanitary landfill personnel. Enumerators consisted both of graduate and undergraduate environmental science students of Palawan State University. Other information from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) and the City Planning Office were obtained. The data obtained from the interview was analyzed using frequency and percentage.

Results and Discussion

The Scavengers The community living near and deriving their sustenance from the defunct open dumpsite and quicksilver mine consisted of two groups: the indigenous Tagbanua who lived in area since 1950s and the migrants from nearby barangays, municipalities and places outside Palawan who once in a while increase the number of scavengers (Table 1, Plate 1).

4 Table 1. The profile of scavengers living near and visiting the dumpsite. Place of Origin Near the landfill Other places in the city Other Palawan municipalities Other provinces Total Frequency 6 2 20 16 44 Percentage 13.64 4.55 45.45 36.36 100

Plate 1. Settlement areas of scavengers in the defunct quicksilver mine site a few hundred meters away from the sanitary landfill.

It is worth noting that about 80 percent of the scavengers were from other Palawan municipalities and places outside the province. Twelve of them came from the municipality of Aborlan, a municipality next to Puerto Princesa southward. Scavengers from other provinces originated from Negros, Antique, Masbate, Cebu, Iloilo, and Manila. This reflects poverty in these places and the apparent search for greener pastures. Housing in the settlement areas near the dumpsite consisted of temporary shacks made up of nipa, boho derived from the area, sacks and plastic sheets. A few meters from these structures, the collection of recyclables segregated and packed in sacks were set aside for transport to junkshops in the city. Each house had its own set of collections placed adjacent to it. Members of the Tagbanua tribe, or those who profess their tribal ancestry, were given due consideration by the city government in consonance with the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) providing for ancestral domain claim. Some portions of the landfill area fall within ancestral land. Thus, a memorandum of agreement was signed on

5 October 29, 1999 between the City Government and representatives of the Tagbanua tribe prior to the construction of the sanitary landfill. It states that the LGU will provide livelihood training, alternative livelihood, and monthly checkup to the tribal families. Some of them were employed during the construction of the landfill. Externalities of the Solid Waste Management Program and the Sanitary Landfill Scavenging activity persisted at the sanitary landfill site because the landfill management allowed the scavengers, although temporarily, to go on with their trade at the transfer station. At the transfer station, the garbage trucks unload residuals for final sorting. The scavengers were allowed to thresh out useful items from the trash for about an hour or two (Plate 2). But as the volume of recyclable materials dwindled, the time had been extended to three, sometimes indefinite periods or until all trash had been exhaustively searched. Scavengers activity enhanced the efficiency of segregation of unsorted wastes at the landfill site, virtually without added cost to landfill operation. Ninety-three percent of the landfill personnel believe that the activity of the scavengers was beneficial to the operation of the landfill.

Plate 2. Scavengers treshing out useful materials in the transfer station. Target materials segregated for use by the scavengers consisted mostly of refuse vegetables as food item and bottles as non-food item (Table 2). Metals were a favorite item but these seldom reach the transfer station. Improved segregation at source and at the landfill station reduced the amount of recyclable materials which had sustained the scavengers for many years. Just before the establishment of the landfill facility, the scavengers were earning an average of more than five hundred a day. But with more intensive campaign for segregation since the landfill project officially started on August 25, 2005, they are lucky to earn fifty to a hundred pesos a daya significant reduction in their incomes in a matter of months. Also, SWM personnel themselves, who were contractual workers, sorted out recyclables from collection trucks to augment their

6 income. The volume of residuals changed significantly since the operation of the landfill (Figure 2). Residuals decreased by a little over 180,000 kilograms (198 tons) or about a three-day (10%) reduction in residual waste in September 2005. The level was more or less maintained until November then increased again in December probably due to increased consumption associated with festivities characterizing the month such as the city fiesta and the Christmas celebration. The first month of the year again brought back the level of residuals comparable to those obtained in October 2005. Table 2. Target materials collected for use by the scavengers (n = 44). Waste Material Food items Vegetables Bread Canned goods Fish Others Non-food items Bottles Metal Plastic Paper Frequency 14 11 11 9 8 18 15 15 11 Percentage 32 26 26 20 18 41 34 34 25

3000.00 2500.00 Weight ('000 kg) 2000.00 1500.00 1000.00 500.00 0.00 Agricultural Waste Residual

Fig. 2. Monthly solid waste generated in the City of Puerto Princesa (January 2005 to January 2006)2.
Based on tabulated statistics on residuals and agricultural waste provided by the City Solid Waste and Disposal Management Program.
2

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan

Month

7 The reduction in residuals available to the scavengers is a positive externality in favor of the city government because the scavengers were discouraged to depend on wastes delivered into the landfill as their source of income while at the same time supplemented SWM personnels income. Besides, squatters were kept away from the landfill. Hence, the city government was able to fulfill one of the requirements of RA 9003, i. e., prohibition of dwelling units within 500 meters of the landfill site. But this also caused some scavengers to complain bitterly about their plight upon knowing that the SWM personnel had become competitors. Coping Mechanism of Scavengers As a coping mechanism, many of the scavengers engaged in alternative livelihood activities such as raising pigs in their homes near the open dumpsite (Plate 3), fishing, farming, among others. Pigs reared at the landfill site, however, raise questions on their suitability for consumption particularly since these animals were left to fend for themselves, on trash in the transfer station. Since wastes attract insect and rodent vectors (World Bank 2001), disease can spread through contamination of the pigs food. The animals also drink from a pool of stagnant water on top of a hill overlooking the dumping area (Plate 4). One day before Christmas Eve of December 2005, despite apprehensions as previously noted, a significant number of pigs made their way to the market because of high demand for pork meat. Scavengers also consumed fish from a man-made lagoon located next to the transfer station (Plate 5). Initial ocular examination of freshwater fish (Puntius sp.) in the lagoon showed relatively large head to body proportion. However, this apparent abnormality remains to be verified using comparative morphometric studies of the species in question. Also, bioaccumulation of toxic substances such as methyl mercury is a possibility and a future concern.

Plate 3. Pig raising complements scavengers income. Surprisingly, these lethargic pigs appear abnormally too fat without the scavengers regularly feeding them.

Plate 4. Cooling and drinking pond of pigs and carabaos on top of a hill overlooking the transfer station.

Plate 5. Man-made lagoon near the transfer station. Some of the scavengers still stuck with scavenging for lack of skill. They still adhere to their belief that May pera sa basura (there is money in trash) which they always mutter during interview. Notably, since active campaign for segregation, there had been an increase in the number of people pushing carts along city roads and byways gathering and buying recyclable materials along the way. At wee hours of the morning or evening and even during daytime, children and adults ransack the garbage bins provided by the city government in strategic places in the city. They simply shifted their scavenging activities from the landfill to the source of waste.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Scavenging has become a way of life to people whose lives depended a lot on recyclable materials from wastes generated by city residents. The presence of the sanitary landfill facility has drawn them from their source of livelihood because its full operation does not fully guarantee their participation. Their role as segregators, a positive externality, was an informal arrangement and at best transitory in nature. New forms of adaptation evolved as a result in the form of shifting their activities from the landfill to the source of wastes. Recognizing this apparent institutionalization of scavenging or put in better light, recycling, or more accurately segregating waste for sale, as a livelihood activity, it is recommended that the city government provide decent livelihood to these scavengers through government-controlled materials recovery or waste screening facility or support private junkshops where they could find gainful employment and prevent perpetuation of poverty. To prevent possible problems on the terminal effects of bioaccumulation, it is recommended that residents living near the landfill site be cautioned by putting up signs prohibiting consumption of fish from the man-made lagoon. Also, there is a need to relocate the remaining scavenger families to other places where they could eke out a living. Acknowledgment. This study was made possible through the efforts of graduate and undergraduate environmental science students at Palawan State University during school year 2005-2006. Worthy to mention are Ed Bober, who provided his vehicle for the graduate students, and classmates Anthony Suficiencia, Jeffrey Migallos, Cristina Casia, Genebeth Beradas and Joy Talagtag for their help in the preliminary interviews and exploratory visits. Group leaders of the undergraduate group namely Kristhel Lourdes Amanca, Darryl Acot-Acot, Froilan Valones, Peter Abobot, Richard Rapues, and Marina Joy Bose kept their group members working despite difficulties encountered during the interview. And of course, we thank the scavengers which we call the recyclers and the sanitary landfill personnel, particularly project manager Mr. Earl Buenviaje for allowing us to conduct the study in the site, and Rhoda Rafanan and Rodolfo Diose for increasing our knowledge on the sanitary landfill, touring and assisting us around.

10 References and Literature Cited City Government of Puerto Princesa, 2005. A pamphlet guide on waste segregation prepared by the Writers Pool and Special Events Division, Puerto Princesa City. City Solid Waste and Disposal Management Program, 2006. Tabulated report on monthly solid waste collected at the sanitary landfill. Gonzales, B. J. and J. E. Sta. Ana, 2002. Solid Waste Management Training Manual for Local Government. FRMP Information Paper No. 66. Fisheries Resource Management Project, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Agriculture, Quezon City, Philippines. 78 pp. Jasper, R. 2006. Environmental Performance of Solid Waste Management Project of the City of Puerto Princesa. Unpublished Masters Thesis for the degree of Master of Management (Environment Dimension), Palawan State University, Puerto Princesa City. World Bank, 2001. Philippines Environment Monitor. Washington D.C.: World Bank. 28 pp.

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APPENDIX 1 Phases of Development of the Puerto Princesa Sanitary Landfill Project

City Sanitary Landfill Project (Courtesy of City Engineering Office)