For the people of San Antonio, Cauayan City, Isabela, managing their solid waste has become a way of life.

An honoree of the National Solid Waste Management Commission which two years ago sponsored a nationwide search for model barangays, San Antonio was able to succeed where others failed. It was able to institutionalize proper solid waste management (SWM) in this village of more than 2,000 people.

“It is heartwarming to note that despite the two years that passed after the search, the community is still continuing its efforts to manage its waste,” says Jose Dumlao, San Antonio’s barangay chairman. He claims 100 percent of the barangay’s more than 500 households continue to practice waste segregation.

“This goes to show that our efforts before were not meant to just win an award or merely ningas cogon, a trait that has painted Filipinos as good only in starting something but never really finishing anything,” says Dumlao. “For me, sustaining our efforts in SWM is more important than the P25,000 cash prize we received when we were selected one of the honorees in 2004.”

Integrated solid waste management

The people of San Antonio practice integrated SWM. Residents compost biodegradable wastes and use them in their gardens. Recyclable materials are regularly collected from households and properly stored in a temporary Material Recovery Facility set up in every purok. These materials are in turn bought by junk shops authorized by the barangay. The proceeds are used to augment the barangay’s annual budget for SWM activities.

Waste management is also practiced in schools. Students are taught composting and use the compost produced in their school gardens. School teachers do house-to-house visits every month for information and dissemination campaign.

With the barangay waste segregation scheme already in place, only residual wastes are collected by the City government’s garbage truck, coming to the barangay only once a month.

Functional SWM committee

The barangay SWM committee, headed by Dumlao himself, is functional. Composed of principals of both elementary and high school, the Sangguniang Kabataan chairman, president of the Parent-Teachers Community Association and representatives from religious organizations, NGOs, tricycle operators and barangay officials, the committee meets regularly to provide updates on the progress of their SWM initiatives. The barangay council, which meets twice a month, also makes sure that SWM concerns are included in their agenda.

Barangay council members appointed as purok leaders, also do monthly monitoring and evaluation of SWM compliance within their area of responsibility.

While there is a penalty for violators, Dumlao said no one has been penalized yet since all of his constituents comply with the barangay’s waste segregation policy.

San Antonio has long been espousing proper waste management, consistently landing on the top spot in the annual citywide search for cleanest and greenest barangays.

“When the City government first launched its search for model barangays implementing solid waste management, San Antonio also bagged the top prize. Since then, the barangay has been a perennial winner,” says Engr. Alejo Lamsen, Cauayan City’s Environmental Sanitation Management Officer. “This is why in our information and dissemination campaign for waste segregation, we always use San Antonio’s experience as example,” he added.

Not only that. San Antonio has also become a frequent host for neighboring barangays, intending to learn from San Antonio’s experience.

San Antonio’s practice sits well with the City’s efforts to address its solid waste management problems and to achieve the 25 percent waste diversion mandated by law.

The City LGU is currently assisted by the USAID-funded EcoGov Project in finalizing its 10-year SWM Plan and in implementing activities that will help attain its SWM objectives.

How did San Antonio achieve such a remarkable feat?

Dumlao says before encouraging their constituents to practice waste segregation, they set themselves as examples. “People look up to their leaders as models, and we have to live up to their expectations,” explains Dumlao. “That is why we have to do first what we want them to also do next.”

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