Legarda: Zero Waste Must Be a Way of Life

Senator Loren Legarda today encouraged everyone to adopt a zero waste lifestyle for a cleaner, healthier and safer environment.

Legarda made the statement as the country observes National Zero Waste Month and the 17th anniversary of Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Act, which was signed into law on January 26, 2001.

“A zero waste lifestyle means using products that can be reused and promoting processes that avoid or eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste. It means creating little to no waste. It is veering away from the throwaway culture by reusing, reducing and recycling,” Legarda explained.

“Simple examples include going paperless; using glass or refillable water bottles instead of buying plastic bottled waters; using bayong, reusable cloth bags and containers instead of plastic bags when going to the market or grocery; and reusing or recycling boxes, paper, bottles and cans instead of throwing them away, among many others,” she added.

The Senator said that an effective way to start a zero waste lifestyle is the implementation of the ESWM Law, which aims to create a clean and healthy environment using a system of solid waste management that includes segregation of garbage at its source, segregated transportation, processing, treatment and proper disposal of solid waste.

The law emphasizes on recycling so that less garbage is actually brought to the sanitary landfill and those brought to the final disposal site are effectively maintained. It patronizes recycling and the use of recyclable materials to minimize waste output. It bans open dumpsites, the use of incinerators, and burning of waste. It promotes the use of environment-friendly disposal of solid waste.

“As we encourage households to adopt a zero waste lifestyle, we urge local government units (LGUs) to fully implement the ESWM Law, which, together with other environmental laws, will help build clean, healthy, safe and resilient communities,” said Legarda.

“A zero waste lifestyle may only seem difficult at first since many are not yet used to it. But these practices do not really demand much from us. Many of these can be immediately implemented as soon as today. It can easily become a way of life, but we just have to take that first crucial step of actually taking action,” Legarda concluded.