Designing an Integrated Sustainable Solid Waste Management Plan in Alfonso, Cavite

Abstract

The upland town of Alfonso in the province of Cavite is one of many municipalities in the Philippines with unsustainable habits of garbage disposal and insufficient financial and institutional capacity to carry on a socio-ecologically-sound solid waste management plan. Through ocular inspection and interviews with locals, the study investigated how the practices of burning refuse and open dumping relate to the detriment of the physical environment and public health. The study then sought to propose an integrated and sustainable solid waste management plan through cost-efficient, natural and indigenous means. The plan consisted of two aspects: material and non-matter. The former may be achieved through the re-design of the local dump site into a material recovery facility. The contaminated soil and adjacent water system on the current establishment may then be rehabilitated through bioremediation or the introduction of plants and microorganisms for the purpose of extracting heavy metals from soil and water. As for the non-matter approach, the town could make use of their traditional wellness fire ritual, sayaw sa apoy, which coincides with homa therapy or the cleansing of the environment through thermal and sound energy.