Telling Our Story Home » Submit a story » Calendars » FAQs » About » Stories by Region Asia » Europe & and Eurasia » Latin America & the Carribean » Middle East » Sub-Saharan Africa » Stories by Sector Agriculture » Democracy & Governance » Economic Growth & Trade » Education » Environment » Health & Medicine » Infrastructure » Youth & Gender Issues »
	USAID Information: USAID Country Page Stories From The Philippines FY 2012 Congressional Budget Justification Country Assistance Strategy 2009-2013 (PDF, 493KB) Selected USAID Reports External Links: U.S. State Department Background Notes CIA World Factbook United Nations Development Programme World Bank Group
	RSS Feed for Recent Telling Our Story Updates

Case Study

Challenge

Issues of solid waste management in the Philippines involve small family industries as well as just garbage. Families augment their income by scavenging in the city dump. Usually mothers and often children will rotate days with other mothers and children, wading into the mountains of waste to collect marketable refuge, then weighing it with the dump manager, and taking home the meager earnings. As the Philippines population grows so does the amount of solid waste which has become an environmental hazard, with as much as 50 percent finding its way into the ocean. A program was needed to address environmental as well as social concerns of solid waste building up for decades.

Photo: USAID/Virginia Foley

Toledo city officials characterize local garbage which is one step in a new environmental program.

We felt overwhelmed before. Now that we’ve seen the finished project, we know we can do it!
- Cayetano Yray, Danao City’s environmental management specialist

Initiative

USAID helps to fund the Philippine Environmental Governance (EcoGov) Program which stimulates local government planning for solid waste as well as improves management of coastal waters and forestland.

With initial focus on specific pilot areas, a multi-step process was developed to assess, plan, design and implement strategies to dispose of garbage in Toledo City and Danao City.

USAID supported training on integrated solid waste management throughout the process. The EcoGov Program fosters good governance by stressing transparency and accountability of national and local leaders, and participatory decision-making.

Results

Toledo City has completed the first three steps of the program by establishing and training a waste management board and technical working group, and conducting a survey of local waste management practices. City officials, working under a bridge along the river, characterized their garbage, discussing possible management ideas for each of the different types of garbage identified.

Danao City’s environmental management specialist Cayetano Yray is enthusiastic about the program. He’s observed how composting is being implemented in other communities and is happy that expensive landfills aren’t Danao’s only solution. “We felt overwhelmed before. Now that we’ve seen the finished project, we know we can do it.”

Print-friendly version of this page (257kb - PDF)

Back to Top ^