The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) recently approved the 10-year solid waste management plans (SWMPs) of 54 cities and municipalities across the country.
DENR said the move brings to 1,263 the total number of approved SWMPs, which accounts for 79 percent of all 1,592 local government units (LGUs) required to submit and implement their plans in accordance with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
DENR said the plans were approved last April 25 during an en banc meeting presided over by Secretary Antonia Loyzaga.
The agency said the 54 SWMPs were: nine each in Northern Samar and Negros Occidental; three each in Iloilo, Cotabato and Camarines Sur; two each in Ilocos Sur, Masbate, Negros Oriental, Misamis Oriental, Catanduanes, Albay, Batanes, and Cebu; and one each in Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Sorsogon, Antique, Bohol, Zamboanga Del Sur, Quezon, Camarines Norte, and Lanao del Norte.
Loyzaga reiterated the importance of collaboration between the NSWMC and its stakeholders in having an effective solid waste management system in the country.
“If we are not able to manage solid waste in the environment, we will not be able to deliver the kind of ecosystem services and ecosystem integrity we want to have to support succeeding generations,” Loyzaga said.
Loyzaga also discussed possible ways to further improve NSWMC’s operations and systems, including the enhancement of an end-to-end profiling that provides information on solid wastes and how these are managed, treated and disposed.
Under the law, LGUs are mandated to formulate 10-year SWMPs that conform to the National Solid Waste Management Framework of the NSWMC.
The SWMPs of LGUs include information on projected population and waste generation, and their corresponding targets in collection, segregation at source, waste diversion, materials recovery facility compliance, collection vehicle, disposal facility, and budget within a period of 10 years. -Jed Macapagal
