Expertise in Waste Management

Baguio city is experiencing an unprecedented garbage crisis which has stumped our city officials.

Here is my unsolicited advice to the newly-organized City Environment Management office (CEMO): Consult the indigenous experts in waste management. The indigenous migrants in Baguio city are bearers of traditional knowledge and cultures with extremely light ecological footprints. From them, we can learn how to deal with garbage at source, before it needs to be collected and transported to dumpsites or landfills. Before recycling became the rage, indigenous peoples had mastered the art of zero waste management, making optimum use of resources at hand.

One shining example is to be found in Barangay San Luis, where migrant families from Mt. Province continue to practice their tradition of simple living. Geraldine Cacho of ORNUS shares the following innovations and practices of the indigenous migrants in Barangay San Luis, which surely go a long way in reducing, reusing, and recycling wastes.

Organic wastes are put to good use in their home gardens. Animal wastes, ashes of burned dried leaves and papers, and biomass from wild plants like sunflower are used as fertilizers. Those who raise pigs collect left-overs from food chains, restaurants, and hotels; fruit and vegetable rejects and peelings from the Baguio market and La Trinidad Trading Post. Jeeploads of these valuable organic materials are recycled for pig food. Those who cook the food for the pigs use waste paper, cartons, and dried leaves and twigs.

Cans and plastic containers are recycled by the San Luis residents. Big cooking oil cans are used as water containers and for planting vegetables and medicinal plants. Small cans are used in gardens  to help retain the soil at the top of their stone walls.

Due to lack of water in the community, available water is optimized. Rainwater is harvested and grey water from washing clothes is reused to clean the pig pens before finally being channeled to the garden.

These initiatives are not documented by government, but definitely contribute towards reducing the wastes which need to be collected and transported to dumpsites. Hopefully, these efforts would soon be recognized, and these indigenous experts be tapped as valuable partners in solving Baguio's garbage problem.