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Management by Consensus
Motivating Carmonians to be heavily involved in the BIKBAP program
entailed careful planning of doable and realistic strategies that enhance
the partnership between the local government and the community.
Representatives of all sectors were all made part of the
conceptualization, planning and implementation of the different
environmental activities. Each community had a free hand in designing
its own plans, implementation schemes and monitoring devices.
Meetings and consultations were frequently conducted in barangays and
schools, with religious organizations and other groups.The BIKBAP
volunteers hold regular monthly meetings.
Simplicity Ensures
The system adopted is not complicated at all. It simply calls for transferring
a greater part of the responsibility of managing garbage to the generators
themselves. Thus, the battle cry: “Basura ko, pananagutan ko.”
Segregation at source is being pushed because it is easier to
manage a few kilograms of garbage in each household rather than do
the segregation of tons in one place, which is labor-intensive, costly and
time-inefficient. The composting facility at the Carmona Eccology Center
is low-cost, low technology and modular, but producing the expected
results. At the moment, it is operating on funds from the savings gained
from reduced dumpsite costs and the sale of compost. These are,
however, not yet enough to cover the whole operation. In time, it is
expected to be self-liquidating.
Project managers project that in the next two years around 90%
compliance to segregation can be achieved by deputizing the barangays
to undertake the program at their level as mandated by the Environmental
Waste Management Act. To guarantee sustainability of the program,
the local government also plans to set up an environmental cooperative
or foundation to take care of the implementation aspects of the program
as well as the daily operations of the Carmona Ecology Center.
On the whole, therefore, the waste management system adopted by
Carmona is highly replicable. Large investment is not needed to start
the program. In fact, Carmona started out with just one composter. As
the supply of segregated garbage increased, three more composters
were added, one at a time.
For Pride and Profit 89