Earth-Friendly Property Management Program
One of the biggest issues plaguing the Philippines is garbage disposal. This is why Camella’s Property Management Group has made waste management a top priority.
The group has created an Eco-Waste Management Processes Program that it has put into place in Camella communities with a “Zero Waste” goal. According to the Camella Property Management Group, our attitude towards garbage is key. The more common perspective in the elimination of trash is “garbage disposal.” This points to the belief that garbage simply needs to be disposed of — as quickly as possible. This philosophy creates a failure to manage waste properly resulting in the unsuccessful landfills, both inland and off-shore, or incineration.
Instead, the Camella Property Management Group’s approach to the handling of trash – and ingrain this same outlook to the residents’ way of thinking – is to see it as “waste management.” It implies a system of classifying, organizing and handling waste so that it can be dealt with in a manner that is environmentally beneficial to the community.
Don’t Mix Up Your Garbage!
A common myth about trash is that all garbage stinks. This is only true if garbage is mixed. Refuse composed of plastic, glass, paper, Styrofoam, rubber, metal, and aluminum does not emit foul odors when it’s separated from biodegradable waste. Hence the need to segregate.
Segregation is necessary not just to prevent the unpleasant smells, different types of waste need to be dealt with differently – and the Camella Property Management Group has created the systems and put in place the technologies that not just deal with all kinds of waste, but use them to produce products that the community can use.
Working in close partnership with the Home Owners Associations, the Property Management Group holds seminars and disseminates information via circulars, streamers and newsletters on their waste management system. This requires educating the residents on how to segregate and how and when the different types of waste are collected.
In most communities, the wet garbage is collected six days a week – by a group of men on pedicabs called “Bio-Men,” and the garden waste and non-biodegradable waste is collected as needed.
Crucial to the success of the Eco-Waste Management Processes Program is the proper segregation at the home. Residents need to know what is biodegradable and what is non-biodegradable and how to deal with each.
Heart of the Program
While all these waste management technologies may seem state-of-the-art and in truth, the technology is really “low-tech” and has been around for a very long time. In our haste to get rid of our refuse, we’ve forgotten how to correctly deal with the trash that we, ourselves, create.
Applying these “low-tech” systems, Property Management Group has built several Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF’s), about 16×32-meter structures where the different types of garbage gathered are dealt with, to efficiently handle with the various types of waste the communities produce.
Garden waste – leaves, twigs and weeds – are mulched and used as fodder for worms in the vermiculture process. The vermi-cast – worm manure, in layman’s terms – that is collected regularly is an extremely nourishing fertilizer.
Kitchen waste, or wet garbage, is composted. The water is squeezed out, and the remaining sludge is mixed with coco peat and trichoderma fungi to speed up the processing.
Non-biodegradable waste are recycled and sold, usually to junk dealers. Others are used to create other products that are sold as bags, floor mats, tiles, and the like.
Source: Manilla Bulletin
