Memorandum
For:
HON. BENJAMIN MAGALONG
Mayor
Baguio City
CC:
Environmental Office of the City of Baguio
General Service Office of the City of Baguio
Department of Agriculture - CAR
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources - CAR
Subject:
Barangay Based Targetting in Reducing Waste Imposed Composting of
Biodegradable Solid Waste
From
Zarina Marie Vazquez
Policy Analyst
Date:
24 November 2022
____________________________________________________________________________
Baguio City has grown to be an urban and commercial city favored as a holiday destination during
the summer and even whole year round in the Philippines. Given its initial design to accommodate
a population of 25,000 people, the population has now grown to 366,358, which is evidently more
than its capacity in 2015.1 Given this, solid waste has grown too, generating an estimate of
467,219.53 kg per day.2 Currently, Baguio City’s process of waste management begins by being
brought into the Brgy. Dontogan, Baguio City as a transfer station. The solid waste is then
collected and reloaded into larger and long-haul vehicles for transport to landfills or solid waste
facilities which are then brought for final disposal.3 The landfills procured by Baguio City used to
be in Tarlac, then in Pangasinan, and back in Tarlac again. In this kind of system, where Baguio
City is limited in space to dispose of waste, the issue is clear – this waste management causes
millions to be spent annually in order to haul out the city’s trash. The city of Baguio allocated an
annual of Php 100 million back in 2014 for garbage collection and disposal and 2015 around Php
72 million.4 With this, the problem of the increasing volume of garbage and high spending for its
disposal calls for alternatives in decreasing such impact on government efficiency and expenses.
1
2
Baguio City Profile. PhilAtlas. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.philatlas.com/luzon/car/baguio.html
Freedom of Information. (2022, June 28). Environmental Management Bureau. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from
https://www.foi.gov.ph/requests/aglzfmVmb2ktcGhyIQsSB0NvbnRlbnQiFERFTlJFTUItMjUwNzkxOTkzMzY3DA
3
Cimatu, F. Baguio City facing Possible Garbage Crisis. Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/nation/baguio-city-facing-possible-garbage-crisis/
4
baguiomidlandcourier. (2022, August 28). Hurdling garbage woes as attainable vision for Baguio. baguio midland courier. Retrieved December 14,
2022, from https://www.baguiomidlandcourier.com.ph/hurdling-garbage-woes-as-attainable-vision-for-baguio/
Retaining these efforts while addressing other factors like constant population growth, waste and
pollution may lead to an imbalance of funding by the government, decreasing such funding for
other services in order to maintain disposal hauling processes. Moreover, being that Baguio City
is a tourist destination, garbage generation is expected to increase tenfold5. To this, it is inefficient
to continue such actions of allowing solid waste to accumulate and cause government spending
losses.
To prevent anymore excessive spending on disposing of solid waste, the City of Baguio and its
representing environmental officer should impose a method of composting on solid waste for
residential and commercial spaces along with providing small composting areas per barangay.
6
This is in relation to RA 9003 wherein it requires residents to manage their biodegradable wastes
by having their own compost bins. It’s a cost-effective and immediate solution to lessening the
number of biodegradable wastes being collected. It is estimated that 50 tons of biodegradable
wastes are being collected and processed by the city’s environment recycling system at the
former Irisan Dumpsite which converts 12 tons of compost.7 The system of requiring residents to
compost their waste would require training. With this, technical training on composting in
residential and commercial areas would be provided in collaboration with the city's environmental
office, regional Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and Department of
Agriculture. As for commercial businesses, environmental officers may assist in disseminating
information on simple composting methods that can be implemented in spaces large or small.
The organization of creating a technical working group that coordinates and provides skills training
for composting in each barangay and industry is an effective option wherein alternatives to reduce
waste have sunk into irrelevance because of insufficient funding or unclear policy implementation
such as garbage fees.8 To avoid suffering a similar fate, the City of Baguio’s environmental office
must create delineated measures to provide awareness to barangays, residents, and business
5
Refuerzo, A.P. (2022) Clean, Orderly Baguio Program Targets Prompt Action on reports, HERALD EXPRESS | News in Cordillera and Northern
Luzon. Available at: https://baguioheraldexpressonline.com/clean-orderly-baguio-program-targets-prompt-action-on-reports/ (Accessed: December 14,
2022).
6
Agoot, L. (no date) Baguio to require households, firms to have composting areas. Available at: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1077839 (Accessed:
December 13, 2022).
7
Agoot, L. Baguio to require households,firms to have composting areas, Philippine News Agency.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1077839?fbclid=IwAR3LhV4wvqVhspIo0pdVxza6pthdsNWLDijywHNG2tL4XX3kypuPcEfs8NQ
8
Quismundo, T. SC upholds QC housing tax but junks yearly garbage fee. Inquirer.Net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/701842/sc-upholds-qc-housingtax-but-junks-yearly-garbage-fee
along with enforcement of Compliance. This should also require interagency coordination with the
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture.
One known method of composting is the Takakura, which uses three key elements that help with
household composting, these include fermentative microorganisms, moisture/water content, and
aerobic fermentation. The method has been used in Cebu’s implementation of solid waste
management. Part of the program was distributing compost baskets to individual households and
barangay environmental officers who have been trained with the technical skills in composting
while providing educational lectures to residents and to commercial businesses. Over the course
of the project, households would be given guidelines on the process of Takakura composting.
Continuous lectures are one of the key factors of effectiveness in increasing compliance with the
composting of solid wastes. A deficiency of this would reduce the effectiveness of composting. A
recent case study conducted on select Baguio residents and their participation towards eventual
compliance with waste disposal and composting has shown that residents are unanimous in
preferring bioenvironmental waste bins wherein composting may be involved if given the tools.
Opportunities for composting would yield lower costs for the city of Baguio, similar to the
implementation of the project by the local city government of Cebu where composting activities
are done in a certain period of time reducing solid waste production by 30%.9 Institutionalizing
composting expectations in communities would trickle down to an everlasting initiative, leading to
more composting, which justifies establishing composting facilities. These facilities would require
manpower, spurring local economic opportunities.
In this regard, imposing composting in small communities improves the efficiency of solid waste
management. Its overall impact comes not only through appropriate funding but also through
appropriate means of extending knowledge from one barangay to another. It is stressed in this
narrative that technical skills be provided for residents, commercial businesses, and barangay
officers. In reality, this policy option is viable for Baguio City because it allows low-cost measures
to be implemented while also expecting higher returns if given the required effective measures.
Further, since the policy option is in accordance with RA 9003, it satisfies national government
9
Ietc (no date) Planning and implementation of Integrated Solid Waste Management Strategies at local level: The case of cebu city,
International Environmental Technology Centre. Available at: https://www.unep.org/ietc/resources/report/planning-andimplementation-integrated-solid-waste-management-strategies-local (Accessed: December 14, 2022).
goals, and support from residents provides easier access to compliance with composting
processes.