The Problem and It’s Setting
Background of the study
‘I don’t want to protect environment. I want to create a world where the environment doesn’t need protection’.
-Nanno
Introduction
Based on the increasing rates of population growth in most countries in the world, the management of solid waste becomes more and more an urgent problem. Recycling of natural resources is one way to mitigate this problem by means of reprocessing and re-utilization of solid or liquid waste (Conrad, 2017).
Solid waste is usually known as everyday garbage produced by households, commercial and institutional entitles. The United State produced over 250 million tons of municipal solid waste each year in the last decade. Often material that can be composted, such as food, ends up in landfills and incinerators. The amount of waste that produce per person has increased slightly; however, the diversion of waste has also improved. Recycling and emissions, and divert resources to other important natural resources. About 0.37 pound of trash per person was renewed for composting in the United States (EPA 2016).
In a growing number of cities across the United States, local governments are placing computer chips in recycling bins to collect data on refuse disposal, and then fining residents who don't participate in recycling efforts and forcing others into educational programs meant to instill respect for the environment. So beware of the green police. They don't carry guns and there's no police academy to train them, but if you don't recycle your trash properly, they can walk up your driveway and give you a $100 ticket. They know what's in your trash, they know what you eat, they know how often you bring your recycles to the curb and they may be coming to your town soon(Brandon, 2010).
Harry Lewis, a computer science professor at Harvard University and a noted privacy expert, cried foul about the "spy chips," which are already in use in several cities and are often funded by government stimulus programs. He noted that cattle farmers use the same chips to tell if Betsy the Cow has generated her milk quota for the day.
By tagging bins, haulers can weigh garbage, and weighing brings accountability. Consumers that diligently recycle will likely become eligible for rebates in some jurisdictions," he wrote recently. "Conversely, those who throw away excessive amounts of trash may face steeper tariffs in the future … recycling, meanwhile, will go from being something that gives the consumer peace of mind to a way to reduce household bills."
Lewis said Cleveland residents need to ask whether sacrificing their privacy — having the government snoop through their trash — is worth the environmental benefit. If not, he said, they should start a referendum to overthrow the ruling. Part of the issue, he said, is that the system is easy to fool: A neighbor, he said, might dump your recycling into his bin to avoid fines.
I believe these RFIDs are using technology to violate our Fourth Amendment rights of search and seizure," she said. "The community should have the right to informed consent."
Lewis says the solution lies in improving education and awareness, not punishment. He said economic incentives work for recycling — getting money back for aluminum cans and newspapers is a proven tactic.
Frank was skeptical about the future potential exploitation of the RFID trash collection data, and questioned whether the next step might be to attach a GPS receiver to bins to see where residents put them and how they are used. Lewis wondered whether a city might use trash collection data for other, more invasive purposes.
"If the government wanted to know our drinking habits by neighborhood or household — purely for 'public health reasons,' of course — it could mandate RFIDs on liquor bottles and reprogram the scanners to collect data on where the most vodka is being consumed," he said.
"And it's not just the government either. Suppose a major distiller went to your town and offered to pay to collect data about who was throwing out which kinds of bottles. They might be prepared to chip the bottles without being told they had to — and your town might be able to use the new revenue source to hold down its tax rate."
Rather than spending money on things that will actually get the U.S. economy headed in the right direction, government officials across America seem obsessed with forcing the "green agenda" down the throats of the American people – even if it means chasing factories, jobs and economic activity out of their communities.
Not that there is anything wrong with recycling. I personally recycle large amounts of trash each week. But there is a huge difference between recycling as a free individual and being coerced by law to adhere to the sustainable development policies of the United Nations. The truth is that "Agenda 21" is being pushed down all of our throats whether we like it or not. It is all part of the Big Brother police state control grid which is being implemented in the name of "saving the environment" and which is being paid for by "economic stimulus" money in many areas.
That's right. Government snooping on your trash apparently meets the definition of "economic stimulus" in 2010. Perhaps this is what Barack Obama meant when he talked about creating "green jobs". Local governments are going to need a lot of "trash snoopers" to make certain that we are all recycling acceptably.
The Philippines is a beautiful country that unfortunately has a number on important environmental issues which need to be dealt with (Perez, 2011). One of these demanding issues is with view to the mismanagement of garbage and wastes in the country which causes other types of environmental calamity such as flooding, erosion, landslides and other dangers on landfills and dumpsites that include health concerns among the people living nearby (Perez, 2011). Unfortunately, the Philippines has one of the highest amount of solid waste produced in the world yet, still has no continual and effective waste disposal facility (Calica, 2009). Given the eternal garbage problem in the Philippines which harm the environment, waste management indeed a necessary step to achieve and minimize all garbage related problems in the country.
In the light of growing garbage problem in the country, Republic Act (RA) 9003 also known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 was enacted by the Philippine Government. The unsystematic disposal and collection of our wastes have posed a tough job for our government. With the modernization of society, we have come to accumulate more wastes than we can manage to dispose of properly. Left unmanaged and improperly disposed, wastes can cause serious health problems to everyone. Moreover, a dirty environment defeats the aesthetic potential of our surrounding (Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), 2016).
In compliance of the said law Bontoc, Mountain Province capital town of Baguio City, Green Police was established it is a women's organization which ensures proper segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste materials (Pasagoy, 2016).
Bontoc Green Police was originally organized by virtue of Executive Order No. 35, series of 2013 issued by Odsey shortly after the closure of the controversial Matoytoy-ok dumpsite. A writ of Kalikasan case by the Supreme Court in 2012 was earlier filed against the Municipality of Bontoc by the Kalinga Anti-pollution Action Group (KAAG) over the operation of the Matoytoy-ok dumpsite when its Irisan open dump collapsed on Aug.27, 2011, spilling trash into a small community in Tuba, Benguet province killing six people. Through a mutual agreement of both KAAG and Bontoc LGU in the Court of Appeals (CA), the dumpsite was closed, rehabilitated, and re- vegetated by August 2013. (Catajan, 2015).
TWG member Roger Agcapen said that some of the milestones accomplished by the municipality in compliance with the CA order are re-organization of the municipal ecological solid waste management board and TWG, identification of material recovery facilities, composting areas and residual area, safe closure and rehabilitation plan, budget preparation, IEC on segregation at source, test run of green police, signing of memorandum of agreement between local junkshop and barangays and junkshop and municipality, and the issuance of the executive order for the closure of the dumpsite.
While some Bontoc women help maintain peace and order which is the Bontoc women’s brigade, others help in ensuring proper waste disposal in this capital town of Mountain Province. They call themselves the Bontoc green police (Quitasol, 2016). They termed ‘Bontoc Green Police,’ because of their role in monitoring compliance to proper waste management (Ringor,2015). They are volunteers which helps the LGU in promoting the awareness needed to minimize garbage dilemma in smaller communities of the capital town of Mt. Province. A group mostly consists of women, who freely do community services particularly inspecting the garbage collected in the barangays. Their primary goal is to ensure residual wastes that are properly taken cared of before being brought to the collection area of the barangays.
Mayor Franklin Odsey added that they are task with additional responsibilities, these women volunteers will soon start issuing citation tickets to violators of the town’s ecological waste management policies such as segregation at source. Now, they will also have the right to issue citation tickets to those who litter, spit momma, and those establishments and persons who use Styrofoam and plastic bags for dry goods. Momma-spitting has been tagged one of growing problems of this capital town. Bontoc banned the use of plastic bags on dry goods to lessen the garbage of the town. Names of violators will be submitted to the barangay and the municipal government and will be made to pay fines and/or render community service depending on the severity of their offense. They will be denied barangay, police, and mayor’s clearances. This year, the Bontoc Green Police will be provided uniforms and IDs to better carry out their functions.
According to Saley (2013) the municipal collectors also follow the schedules in collecting solid wastes in barangays, collectors will also collect biodegradable wastes at the market area. Trained and organized green police will be deployed to strategic areas to monitor the compliance of the people in this municipality in the waste segregation and obedience to the provisions of RA 9003 and Municipal Ordinance 101 and those apprehended by the green police will either be fined or to render community service. In the advisory, the general public is reminded that unsegregated wastes shall not be collected; to bring out garbage only during the collection schedules to avoid penalties; to compost biodegradables at home as much as possible, and to reduce, re-use and recycle their wastes.
‘Oplan pera sa basura’ is another program that will be participated by all schools within the 16 barangays. Under it, the schools will be gathered into Central, Riverside, Alab, Balili, Gonogon, and Upland. The mechanics will be communicated to the schools soon so the prizes of winning schools will be given during the commencement exercises next year. For the past months, officials of the four central barangays and municipal officials conducted information drive on proper waste management, massive clean-up, training of green police, announcements in the schedules of collections of wastes and concept of the oplan pera sa basura in the schools (Dumlao, 2013).
It has also developed Eco-park 1 for the composting of biodegradables and Eco-park 2 for the crushing of bottles and shredding of plastics used in making eco-blocks, hollow blocks containing crushed bottles and shredded plastics (Northern Philippine Times, 2015).
In recognition of their valuable efforts, the Women Green Police of Bontoc, Mountain Province is set to be one of the recipients of the Gawad Pagkilala for Sustainable Best Practices on Solid Waste Management under the Private Partners Category by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) ‘ Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) during the Cordillera Environmental Summit 2016 on July 27-29 at the Crown Legacy Hotel in Baguio City (Lee, 2016).
Green police is not only in the Philippines but in other country too like in the United States and Europe. Their main goal is to monitor the proper segregation of waste material under their supervision. Unfortunately, they are insufficient in number and were not really aware that they exist because of some other important issue that needs immediate attention like criminality.
Solid waste management is the biggest concern of all LGUs, but wastes can also become a resource. Garbage becomes a waste if it is not managed properly (Empian, 2016).
Proper waste disposal is very important in making sure that your place and environment is free from any waste that can cause health risks. If you want a clean and healthy environment, then you have to constantly clean your area, and put some tools and equipments like a garbage disposal bag to help you in keeping that area clean and free from harmful bacteria.