The Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003) was passed in 2000 to provide for a national ecological solid waste management program and create the required institutional mechanisms and incentives.
The law sets guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction through source reduction and waste minimization measures, including composting, recycling, re-use, recovery, green charcoal process and others. It seeks to ensure progper segregation, collection, transport, storage treatment and disposal of solid waste through the formulation and adoption of the best environmental practices in ecological management.
It provides for the creation of a National Solid Waste Management Commission with members from the government sector and the private sector.
It prescribes as well the creation of provincial, city and municipal solid waste management boards with representation not only from government agencies but also from the NGO sector, tge recycling industry, and the manufacturing/packaging industry. These board are responsible for formulating and enforcing long-term solid waste management plans in their respective areas.
The law provides that primary responsibility and enforcement of the solid waste management program rests with local government unit with cooperation with the national government, other local government units, non-government organizations, and the private sector, including business establishments.
Under Chapter 6, Section 48 of the law, the following specific acts are prohibited and subject to penalties:
(1) Littering, throwing, dumping of waste matters in public places, such as roads, sidewalks, canals, esteros or parks, and establishment, or causing or permitting the same;
(2) Undertaking activities or operating, collecting or transporting equipment in violation of sanitation operation and other requirements or permits set forth in or established pursuant to this Act;
(3) The open burning of solid waste;
(4) Causing or permitting the collection of non-segregated or unsorted waste;
(5) Squatting in open dumps and landfills;
(6) Open dumping, burying of biodegradable or non-biodegradable materials in flood-prone areas;
(7) Unauthorized removal of recyclable material intended for collection by authorized persons;
(8) The mixing of source-separated recyclable material with other solid waste in any vehicle, box, container or receptacle used in solid waste collection or disposal;
(9) Establishment or operation of open dumps as enjoined in this Act, or closure of said dumps in violation of Sec. 37;
(10) The manufacture, distribution or use of non-environmentally acceptable packaging materials;
(11) Importation of consumer products packaged in non-environmentally acceptable materials;
(12) Importation of toxic wastes misrepresented as recyclable or with recyclable content;
(13) Transport and dumping in bulk of collected domestic, industrial, commercial and institutional wastes in areas other than centers of facilities prescribed under this Act;
(14) Site preparation, construction, expansion or operation of waste management facilities without an Environmental Compliance Certificate required pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 1586 and this Act and not conforming with the land use plan of the LGU;
(15) The construction of any establishment within two hundred (200) meters from open dumps or controlled dumps or sanitary landfills; and
(16) The construction or operation of landfills or any waste disposal facility on any aquifer, groundwater reservoir or watershed area and or any portions thereof.
Photo: from www.niras.com
Click here to read the full transcript of the Solid Waste Management Law.