According to one article of City Agriculturist William Ablong, 80 tons of garbage are being dumped daily at the Candau-ay dumpsite. That volume of garbage is a lot. If the city cannot find a better waste disposal system than what is currently being utilized, time will come when Dumaguete will no longer be called the City of Gentle People or a University Town but simply, The Dumpsite.
Way back in 2010 during the administration of former Mayor Tuting Perdices, a foreign group came to Dumaguete, and introduced a kind of technology that would innovatively get rid of our garbage.
At that time, we thought they were heaven-sent, and we were so confident that finally, the City’s problem with garbage will be over. Unfortunately, nothing happened to that venture. Kung baga, ang Dumaguete na 1-2-3.
Back to the present, after learning that we Dumaguetnons are dumping that amount of garbage, and after learning that we are having terrible problems not just with trash but with our disposal system, not to mention the issue on the inadequacy of garbage trucks, I thought…why not sell our garbage to Sweden? Aside from getting rid of our voluminous trash, the City government can earn money from it.
Sweden has one of the most efficient waste disposal systems in the world that today, it has become a problem to them. Yes, their efficiency became a problem when they no longer had any more garbage to fuel their energy plants.
So their government, in collaboration with the private sector, thought of purchasing other countries’ garbage so that Swedes can “live” comfortably.
I think that if I were to suggest that to City Hall, there will be smirks and laughs and raised eyebrows, and this column will surely be sneered at.
So I’m thinking, perhaps, we should just go back to the basics, and use a few outdated methods of solving some of our problems. By being conventional, we can now stop spending for the travel of government officials who go to other places to study and observe how other LGUs are disposing of their waste, or learn which technology to use to lessen the garbage problem.
Likewise, we will no longer be cuckolded by devious organizations that take advantage of our desperate need to properly ditch our rubbish and scraps. For now, we should just veer away from innovation, and go back to the old ways of doing things.
The compost pit. Making a compost pit is a time-worn technique of disposing garbage. It’s easy to implement, and it provides excellent fertilizer for our lawn and gardens, along with cutting down the number of garbage bags that we send to the dumpsite.
If individual household units can have their own compost pits in their own backyard, the government will no longer think of buying fancy equipment or acquiring expensive technology; families can now have their own source of rich organic fertilizer; their kitchen will smell better since the garbage decomposing inside the garbage can has now been moved to the compost pit; less garbage brought to the dumpsite (and eventually, no more trash to be brought there); pollution is reduced; erosion is prevented; and the soil/trees and plants are healthier.
Tiny step, huge impact. Comparable to all facets of green living, the tiniest input from individual home units can have valuable and colossal environmental impacts.
So perhaps Dumaguetnons can now start thinking of digging some hole within the premises of their home property, and begin making a compost pit. Who knows, we can just be like Sweden.
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Author’s email: legis616821@gmail.com
