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A SOLUTION FOR SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT: TAKING THE RESPONSIBILITY


It may look like a simple picture of two sacks hanging on a tree but this picture means a lot. The photo you see is a photo of two sacks that are supposed to be one for biodegradable and another one for non biodegradable. But when I looked at the trash inside of these sacks, I saw the irresponsibility of citizens for not practicing proper segregation.



As part of the final requirement. I asked for an interview with the landlady named Teodora Francisco, a 60-year old widower, whose family has been living in Barangay San Gabriel even before she was born. I also asked her if we could record her answer but she adamantly refused so I just took a picture with her.


When I asked her, why she did not segregate her garbages properly, she answered, “Ang sa [a]kin lang naman, hinahakot pa din naman yung basura namin kahit hindi nakahiwalay"


She also added, “Saka nagbabayad naman kami buwan-buwan ng basura. Walang palya. Kaya dapat lang kuhanin yung basura namin”


Can we blame these citizens for not segregating their garbage or should the barangay officials be responsible because they made those citizens think that it’s fine to not practice solid waste management as long as they pay for the garbage collection?


So, I sent a message requesting for an interview with any barangay officials available but it seems to me that our Sangguniang Barangay was busy with the transition of our barangay captain to vice mayor of Santa Maria after winning the recent election.


Luckily, last time I had surveyed one of the very active barangay councilors, Kagawad Aldrin Victorino. In the survey, I asked him what are the actions taken by our barangay officials to solve the prevalent community issue which is solid waste management.


He said, “Ang ginawang solusyon ng ating Sangguniang Barangay ay muli nagpaalala o patalastas ng paghihiwalay ng basura sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng liham bawat tahanan, pagpopost sa ating social media account, at pag- iikot ng ating mga tauhan.



As it said, we do receive the letter. As you can see on the letter, there was a line stating “kung hindi po masusunod ang paghihiwalay-hiwalay ng inyong basura ay hindi rin po naming ito kokolektahin sa itinakdang araw ng paghakot”


He also added, “Alam natin na ang basura ay hindi lang problema ng atin barangay kung di pati ang buong mundo. Kailangan natin maging responsable pagdating sa ating basura at sa ating mundong ginagalawan.


While doing this final report, it has come to me that everyone has a fair share of responsibility to solve this issue, solid waste management. Citizens must be responsible to at least segregate their garbage and barangay officials must be responsible to provide a more concrete plan to solve this issue.


We should not look for who is really at fault here because a sad truth about this issue is that it has been one of the longest problems in our world since I can remember but up until now, it is still hard to address and solve this problem.

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