PENRO MisOcc discuss Zero Waste Month in Let’s Talk MisOcc

In observance of the Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management 2000, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO) discusses in the first episode of Philippine Information Agency Misamis Occidental's virtual forum dubbed, “Let’s Talk MisOcc” Zero Waste Month celebrated every January.

Zero waste is an advocacy that promotes the designing and managing products and processes to avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials.

During the virtual forum “Let’s Talk MisOcc”, Provincial Environmental Management Unit Officer Teresa M. Digamo shared that Misamisnons should continue to fight to solve our garbage problem, which has become a crisis not only today but future generations will increasingly face, and that the people should come together as one and make a collective action, so we will be able to achieve our goal of a sustainable and livable environment for the next generations.

“Ang atong business industry ug gobyerno maghimo ta ug mga produkto nga diin package na sya daan nga mahimo sya ug recyclable so we will use nontoxic materials and nontoxic raw materials aron after sa iyang specific use makahimo pata ug laing butang or we will use another product out of this waste,” Degamo said.

(Our business industry and the government will make products that are already packaged so that they can be recyclable so we will use nontoxic materials and nontoxic raw materials so that after its specific use we can make something else or we will use another product out of this waste.)

She emphasized to always aim for progress, overcome challenges and take responsibility to be a better citizen for a livable environment. “Nakita nato nga dako kaayo ug pagkulang gikan sa year 2000 up to 2014, wala kaayo compliant sa mga LGUs despite the struggle ug gipang-awhag nato sila to follow the mandate of RA 9003 mao ning gitawag sya ug zero waste month para ang katawhan, ang gobyerno ug public sector makabalo kung unsa gyud ang buhaton aron atong mga aksyon sa paghimo sa atong produkto ug projects undertaking geared towards zero waste.”

(We see a large deficit from the year 2000 up to 2014, not very compliant with the LGUs despite the struggle and we urge them to follow the mandate of RA 9003 so this is called zero waste month for the people, the government and public sector know exactly what to do so that our actions to make our product and projects undertaking geared towards zero waste.)

For the face mask disposal, PENRO Officer said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) design that our face mask must be segregated from all domestic waste so they will be place in separate garbage.

“Wala man ta’y kalabayan or asa nato ilabay permanently that’s why all LGUs joined nga ilaha nang i-separate to containers, cellophane bags and yellow plastic bags. Mao na’y recommended sa infectious waste and once mapuno na sila so i-desinfect na sila and they are advised nga ibutang sa container because they should not be throw to our sanitary land fill,” she added.

(We don’t even have a trash bin or where to throw it permanently that’s why all LGUs joined that it will be separated into containers, cellophane bags and yellow plastic bags. That is why it is recommended for infectious waste to disinfect them and they are advised to put in a container because they should not be throw to our sanitary land fill)

Digamo encouraged the people to continuously be mindful and be aware about properly segregating and disposing their wastes. ”Ang keyword sa atong Republic Act 9003 is segregation. Dako kaayo nang problema sa atong katawhan nga unsaon gyud nato pag-segragate sa atong mga basura. As lead agency naa ta’y massive information drive para matuman gyud ang mandato sa RA 9003."

(The keyword in our Republic Act 9003 is segregation. There is already a big problem with our people that how do we really segregate our garbage. As the lead agency, we have a massive information drive to fulfill the mandate of RA 9003).(SMRN/PIA-10/Misamis Occidental)