The ADB-funded MRF in Smokey Mountain, Tondo.
(published in the Business & Environment magazine, 2nd quarter 2007 issue)
SMOKEY MOUNTAIN was once a 2 million-ton garbage heap that, for over 40 years, served as a waste disposal facility for the Philippines’ capital city of Manila. It drew a large community of informal settlers who scavenged the garbage for their livelihood.
Once Manila’s scourge, Smokey Mountain has been transformed by the government into a low-income housing community for more than 30,000 people. Though the housing situation has improved, the area remains home to individual waste pickers, junk shops, and a variety of people and cooperatives engaged in recycling municipal solid waste, often under very difficult working conditions.
“It became apparent that there was a need to improve the recycling facility and provide capacity building and skills training to the community,” says Anita Celdran, program director of Sustainable Project Management, which is working to address the problem.
In addition, new services were needed. The supply chain had to be organized, and the recycling process had to be streamlined to double the selling price of the recyclables. The work conditions of the waste sorters in the area can be quite precarious.
“It became evident that to improve the work environment, a new workspace has become imperative,” says Ms. Celdran.
To address this issue, ADB is working with the Philippine government’s National Solid Waste Management Commission to support Sustainable Project Management, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization that is training the Smokey Mountain community in improving their waste recycling through better collection, sorting and exporting. Trash is transformed into primary materials that can fetch higher profits in international markets like China, a major importer of recycled plastics.
“Communities like Smokey Mountain have been stepping up waste recycling programs and turning what used to be regarded as unwanted trash into precious, revenue-generating treasures,” says Celdran.
On May 11, the Smokey Mountain community inaugurated its first “green” material recovery facility, or waste collection center, with the health and safety of the community in mind.
Under the Philippines new National Solid Waste Management Law, communities are encouraged to set up “material recovery facilities” to help divert waste from active landfills. The facility is supported by a $229,500 grant under ADB’s Poverty and Environment Program through contributions from the governments of Norway and Sweden, and the ADB’s technical assistance funding program.
For more than two years, Sustainable Project Management has been training and assisting the community, led by its parish priest, Father Ben Beltran, and the Samahan ng Muling Pagkabuhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative.
The facility is designed for natural ventilation, protection from heavy rains, and will have a large kitchen area for an expanded food catering business, to feed the workers at the site. The company Holcim Cement provided a 10-day construction training course for 40 residents, who in turn donated some of their time to help build the facility.
“It has truly taken the effort and support of the whole community to make this new building a reality,” says Ms. Celdran.
Workers sort waste at the MRF.
In addition to the waste recycling facility, Sustainable Project Management is also working to educate the community on recycling. Households in Smokey Mountain will sort their trash and contribute to the supply chain as most of the organic waste comes directly from collection bins outside of each building in the community.
The cooperative in the area has also been recycling old newspapers and phone books into handbags and accessories, sold mostly to the Australian market. Over 100 housewives were trained to make the bags, giving them additional income. A fashion line of clothing is also being launched to create job opportunities in the community.
Despite the projects underway in Smokey Mountain, much work remains to be done, says Ms. Celdran. The remaining landfill continues to be a health and safety hazard for the community. Rainwater percolating through the mountain continues to carry traces of metals and toxins that pose health risks to the community even as the mountain now seems to be covered with grass. Unaware of the hazards, a number of community members are growing vegetable gardens on the mountain top while children play along the water run-off.
Children still scavenge at some areas of Smokey Mountain, near the MRF.
