Published January 12, 2001

So finally, that obstacle called an environmental clearance certificate has been hurdled so that the way is now clear to completing Baguio's garbage composting plant. That certificate cuts both ways of course. Where it allows construction of the facility, it likewise imposes standards and rules by which operations will proceed. Perimeter fencing of the plant, safeguard to protect nearby water sources, compensation for proven aggrieved parties are just three of seventeen conditionalities to be guaranteed.

We await the expected publication of the full ECC text so that if can be referred to from time to time. We expect also that the towns of Tuba and Sablan, perhaps even Tublay in Benguet will keep copies of the certificate on file to ensure proper monitoring of and compliance with the terms. That's the least officials of the towns can do.

The concept of composting the greater part, if not all, of the city's organic waste is long overdue. Fact is that any reservations about the project were largely about whether its application to the scale envisioned might be practicable. It had never been done before although any dedicated home gardener knows the benefits composting offers to a household. Doing it a thousand fold over, however, does raise questions over whether we have the technology and wherewithal for success.

That said, one has to agree with the undertaking with equal doses of trust and doubt. Perhaps, we should put those two in reverse order. Doubt, first, over whether there will be the dedication that the novel project requires. All too often, the initial enthusiasm is replaced by a resignation to routine and fits of showcasing. Bureaucracy and political interference can also lead to loss of focus.

For now, however, we must put the matter of trust ahead of all considerations. The so-called conditionalities appear to cover the basic concerns. But, it's a way between promising and doing.

Baguio folk and those in neighboring downstream localities will, for now, have to trust in the sincerity of the composting plant's administrators.

There will also be many glitches, big and small, that will be encountered, requiring a lot of innovative reactions and fine-tuning. On those scores, again, we will trust that the plant's managers will be up to the jobs.

One proposal stands out for encouragement. This is the plan to organize barangay folk of Irisan barangay into a cooperative whose members will actually run the day-to-day operations of the plant. That addresses two points immediately. For one, the cooperative will ensure that the first economic benefits will redound to those most directly affected. Secondly, who better than the residents around the plant to guard against violations of the terms to guarantee overall environmental integrity of the area?

And so, as we watch and wait, we must pose the query: When will that long bandied garbage segregation program be seriously implemented? For all the talk and hype, the only action has largely been at the city's higher echelons. Implementation on the barangay level has been almost zero.

We are told that the local government code requires that such efforts have to start at the grassroots, with each household doing the initial segregation of plastics, metals, etc. Unfortunately, most barangays don't seem aware of this. And yet even the seeming simplicity of the matter requires a collective will that is in itself complex. One would imagine that City Hall's managers, with all of their seminar certificates, could muster out a program to get the undertaking effectively on the way.

Addressing the garbage disposal needs of the city should be of the highest priority, not as of today but more like as of yesterday. The Manila garbage crisis should be instructive.

What are those two catchphrases about waste disposal? NIMBY. Not In My Backyard, right? Then, there's Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Simple as these may sound, they are distillations of painful experiences and warnings arising from the learning process. Their simplicity is deceptive.

Simpler yet, but just as pressing is for Baguio to take that first real step. It might, in its turn appear an easy one, but it will take total resolve to actually do it and press on from there. But consider: If that pile of garbage can be managed by each household, reduced, reused and recycled, it would make good the promise of garbage in, money out.