Introduction

On January 26, 2001, Republic Act No. 9003 (R.A. 9003) otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 was signed into law by the Philippine Government. This law requires all Local Government Units in the country to establish an ecological solid waste management program within their jurisdictions and provides the necessary institutional mechanisms to attain its objectives.

The project SWM4LGUs is implemented in partnership with the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The initial focus of operations are in the Visayas, within regions 6, 7, and 8. In its first year of implementation, the identified partner LGUs are Ilo-ilo City, Passi City, Dumaguete city and Buenavista, Guimaras.

Goals & Objectives

The overall goal of the project is to enable local government units (LGUs) to establish integrated solid waste management systems according to R.A. 9003, and to operate them in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner.

To assist local government units more efficiently, the project aims to strengthen the capability of experts in the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and to upgrade their performance in regulatory and development functions, which are needed to implement R.A. 9003.

To establish showcases and best practices for proper Solid Waste Management, selected local government units take part in the capacity building and receive expert training and planning support to implement R.A. 9003.

GTZ’ strategic approach to support the implementation of the law and to attain the set project targets is to provide technical expertise and transfer of know-how to key personnel of the partner agency EMB and selected local government units. The know-how transfer will be channeled through the conduct of vital solid waste management activities and the establishment of model SWM facilities and pilot projects. To achieve key results, a special project office has been set up at the DENR-EMB compound in Iloilo City and a team of national and international long- and short-term experts have been engaged by GTZ to implement the project.

Financial assistance is further provided for local government units (LGUs), if requested, through the Credit Line for Solid Waste Management (CL-SWM) managed by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), which received funds from a financial assistance program offered by the German Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW). However, the technical assistance for local government units (LGUs) provided by GTZ under this project is independent of the loan assistance offered by KfW.

Milestones and Impacts

As of May 2006, the following milestones have been achieved:

• Establishment of a Plan of Operations and corresponding individual work plans for the partner agency EMB and selected LGUs.
• The planning framework and project targets were identified in a participatory manner with representatives from the project partner DENR-EMB, regional executives including significant stakeholders and key personnel from LGUs which had applied for technical assistance.
• The objectives of the joint project were clarified and agreed on within a detailed Implementation Arrangement between GTZ and DENR-EMB.
• Memorandum’s of Understanding (MoU) were negotiated and signed by the regional EMB offices and the LGUs of Iloilo City, Passi City, Dumaguete City, Mandaue City, and the municipality of Buenavista in Guimaras.
• Various trainings were conducted to build potentials and know-how in the establishment of material recovery facilities, especially for composting at the household, barangay and LGU level. As a result, the partner LGUs Passi City, Dumaguete City and Buenavista upgraded their waste segregation systems in public markets and town centers and implemented model composting projects, which are now being replicated in the pilot barangays.