About 6.3 billion metric tons.
That’s the amount of discarded metal, rubber, glass, paper and a lot of plastic that end up worldwide in landfills, rivers, lakes and oceans.
Garbage collectors are turning the tide.
Gregg Yan of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), a regional organization which pushes for integrated solutions to coastal and marine problems, including marine plastic pollution, in a press release shared the story of Sherwin Salazar, 38, a mangangalakal or waste picker and a master of the trade.
“The best time to hunt for scrap is right after homeowners leave their garbage out, before government collection trucks arrive, usually between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.,” Salazar said outside a bustling junkshop in Dasmariñas City, Cavite.
He had just unloaded over a thousand pesos worth of junk.
Salazar has been hunting for treasure in Cavite’s garbage dumps for 25 years running.
Salazar’s garbage collection brings him to nearby cities like Tagaytay.
“Supporting waste pickers and recycling facilities converts a significant portion of waste which would otherwise be dumped in landfills or in our rivers and seas, into useful products,” said Thomas Bell who manages PEMSEA’s Project ASEANO, a project that supports on local capacity building for reducing plastic pollution in Southeast Asia.
“These cottage industries also support the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Filipinos,” Bell said.
Project ASEANO focuses on the city or municipal level, with Cavite’s Imus River as one of two project sites.
“To decisively address plastic waste management, we need to include waste pickers and recyclers as major stakeholders,” said Aimee Gonzales, PEMSEA executive director. “They are our front liners in the war against waste.” – Paul Icamina
