The Philippines has what is called the Republic Act 9003 or the ?Philippine Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is mandated to carry out the implementing rules and regulations of this Act.  Understandably, there are costly provisions required by the law.  For instance, local government units need to set up  ?engineered? sanitary landfills so that garbage can be handled at a facility that is designed, constructed and operated in a way that is not harmful to public health and to the environment as well.

DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu has proposed that towns and cities can pool their resources to establish sanitary landfills for their cluster of LGUs. In fact, he said that there are green financing programs offered by the Development Bank of the Philippines precisely to carry out these environmental projects, such as solid waste management.

DENR also promotes alternative waste management methods most specially the 3Rs which are Reuse, Reduce and Recycle.  On their own, the different LGUs are coming up with their measures to promote the 3 Rs.  In Quezon City, for instance, up for approval is a measure that makes it mandatory for public places to have separate trash bins for recyclable and non-recyclable trash. 

There are many other ways by which groups and individuals are managing their solid wastes.  For example, there is a group led by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila?s Ecology Ministry which is teaching ?ecobricking?.  This is an activity where people fill up pep bottles with plastic wastes until they are ?hard as bricks? and these are used as contruction materials. This is just one instance wherein individuals are doing their part in managing their resusable trash.

In the City where I live, there is a man called Mr. Greenman. His real name is Matthew Gelber.   He is an environmentalist in the true sense of the word and goes around giving talks about how each one of us can bring down our ?carbon footprint?.  I?d like you to meet him one day, but for now, you can read up on him here - http://www.pattfoundation.org/green-man-matthias-gelber/.