The City Council committee on health and sanitation and health insurance discussed the possibility of passing an ordinance for the implementation of Eco-Savers Program here.
This is in line with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which requires cities to adopt a waste segregation scheme to realize its target of reducing waste through the reuse, reduce, and recycle principle.
According to councilor Maria Lourdes Gaane, chair of the committee, there is a need for a school-based advocacy program on solid waste management to augment the city’s solid waste management efforts.
Under the program, students will be required to bring recyclable garbage from their respective households during an assigned “Eco Day,” the day when the garbage is going to be weighed and credited to their issued eco-passbooks.
Each of the public elementary schools in the city is assigned an Eco Day, which is once a week.
Accredited junk shops will weigh the recyclables, record these in the passbooks and haul all the recycles collected. The recyclables are then valued according to the prevailing market price and reflected in the students’ individual passbooks using a point system, which is P1 is equivalent to 1 point.
During the meeting, Oliver Egypto, head of Task Force Solid Waste Management of City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro), said the project is similar to the ongoing program of the city tied up with Material Recovery Facility (MRF) of the barangays.
He said the proposed project would be sustainable since it will be created through ordinance.
Egypto suggested that the Clenro and Department of Education (Deped) chair the committee with a youth representative as the co-chair. (sp)
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