DENR mulls penalizing garbage collectors mixing up wastes

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday said it plans to impose penalties on garbage collectors who mix up segregated wastes. DENR chief Ramon Paje warned truck collectors that mixing up segregated garbage from households constitutes a violation of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. “Filipinos are now aware of waste segregation and many are already practicing it in their households, but a lot of them are discouraged to sustain this practice because they see the truck collectors mixing up their garbage anyway," he said in a statement Wednesday. Section 48 of RA 9003 prohibits “the mixing of source-separated recyclable material with other solid waste in any vehicle… used in solid waste collection or disposal." The same law states that violators may be fined with P500,000 or imprisoned from one to three years. Paje said the imposition of the penalties stated in RA 9003 aims to discipline truck collectors, and at the same time further encourage households to segregate their solid wastes. “We need to drastically reduce the amount of waste that we generate especially in Metro Manila and its environs. We cannot do this if collectors retrieve mixed waste. We need to segregate at the source of waste," he said. The environment secretary likewise reminded local government unit (LGU) officials that it is their responsibility to ensure that solid wastes from their areas are properly segregated. He added that the DENR will also come up with guidelines for penalizing erring garbage collectors by next year. — Andreo Calonzo/LBG, GMANews.TV