Government must address the solid waste crisis | The Manila Times

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THE management of solid waste is an aspect of modern civilization that the Philippines has never quite been able to carry out efficiently, or in much of the country, never been able to carry out at all. Recent developments have highlighted some of the deficiencies in solid waste management, and strongly suggest that the government regard it as the crisis it actually is, and not just another chronic development shortcoming.

Within the past week, both the City of Manila and the City of Malabon have had disputes with their municipal waste collection contractors. The cases are remarkably similar. In Manila, Mayor Honey Lacuna accused the city's garbage collection contractor, Leonel Waste Management Corp., of abandoning its contract, leaving waste to pile up for a few days until some other arrangements could be made. Leonel Waste Management countered that it had not violated its contract with the city, but that it had not been paid, claiming that the city government owed the company P561.4 million for collection services. The city, of course, refutes this claim, but while this back-and-forth is continuing, Manila had to rather hurriedly secure new collection services, which it did by dividing the P842.7-million contract between Philippine Ecology Systems Corp. and Metro Waste Solid Waste Management Corp. (MWSWMC). On Tuesday, the city gave its two new contractors until Jan. 10 to clear out the backlog of waste from the holiday period.