Journey to Zero Waste

Zero waste has gained acceptance worldwide as the most affordable way to phase out waste disposal, create better jobs, build resilient communities, facilitate just transition and take climate action. On May 31, 2023, hundreds of municipal officials, Zero Waste practitioners and industry experts from Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe and the Americas will gather virtually for the Global Zero Waste Cities Summit.

Philippines will be represented by Mother Earth Foundation (MEF). Thanks to MEF, led by Sonia Sales Mendoza, its chairperson, our country is home to a number of Zero Waste model communities. Her name is closely associated with ecological solid waste management. In its March 2023 publication, Vision and Grit, GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) featured her among 14 Exceptional Zero Waste Women in the Asia Pacific area.

As the chairperson of Mother Earth Foundation PH (MEF), Sonia Sales Mendoza actively campaigned with fellow advocates for the passage of the Philippines’ Clean Air Act of 1999 (RA 8749) which bans incineration and Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (RA 9003) which provides the national framework for decentralized solid waste management. Under her leadership, MEF worked with Philippine cities and communities to implement the law. Communities that have become Zero Waste or are on the road to Zero Waste have Tita Sonia, as she is fondly called, to thank for their success. She advocated for and conducted training on waste management and composting at the community level long before the government implemented waste segregation.

When Mendoza retired as a laboratory manager from a multinational pharmaceutical company in 1984, she had planned to spend more time with her family and to enjoy playing tennis, her favorite sport. Soon, however, she found she had more time on her hands.

Attuned to environmental issues, Mendoza joined the Concerned Citizens Against Pollution (COCAP) in 1995, which was campaigning for clean air and opposing a government plan to put up an incinerator plant. She attended hearings at the Senate and the House of Representatives with a group of ladies led by Odette Alcantara when incineration issues were taken up. She also joined rallies in Luneta to campaign for clean air and the passage of the Philippine Clean Air Act that bans incineration.

Mendoza’s journey in waste management advocacy began in her own community. In 1998, when trash collectors in her village failed to show up for three weeks, causing a massive pileup of garbage in the streets, she and four other housewives took matters into their own hands. Guided by waste management gurus, like Luz Sabas and Dr. Metodio Palaypay, Sonia and her fellow homeowners sorted biodegradable from non-biodegradable waste while waiting for the garbage pickup. Biodegradable waste was composted, while non-biodegradable waste was recycled and sold to junk buyers.

Mendoza and fellow eco-crusader, Odette Alcantara, started giving lessons about waste segregation and composting to anyone who would listen – neighbors who were artists, housewives, local government officials, media people. With media attention, more homeowners got involved. The success of this initiative led to the establishment of the Mother Earth Foundation (MEF) as a non-government organization in 1998 by a group of five men and ten women environmentalists.

Promoting Recycling and Waste Management

Taking a broader role, the MEF has been teaching communities, schools, offices, and various sectors of society proper recycling and waste management. Mendoza said, “No village was too small or too far for MEF to visit so we can teach them about ecological solid waste management. We were invited to hold seminars or speak in Metro Manila, Batangas, Cavite, Tagaytay, Dipolog, Surigao, Northern Samar, Romblon, Quezon, Bicol, Bacolod, Butuan, Iligan, Pampanga, Bulacan, Baguio, Bataan, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, and Ilocos Sur.” In 2001, Sonia was selected to become part of the National Solid Waste Management Commission.

MEF has worked with local governments, specifically with the mayors, to adopt Zero Waste in their municipalities or communities through educational campaign programs. From north to south of the country, MEF has held seminars and workshops and assisted barangays with developing and implementing their Zero Waste programs. Mendoza’s work brought her to various places, from Puerto Princesa, Palawan in 2009, to San Fernando, Pampanga in 2012. Most recently, MEF helped the province of Siquijor Island become the first Zero Waste Island in the country. The other partner cities are Malabon, Navotas, Batangas, Tacloban, Dumaguete and the island province of Siquijor.

The MEF training module has two parts: Inner Ecology and Solid Waste Management. The first part, Inner Ecology, addresses WHY we take responsibility for the waste that we generate; and WHAT are the effects of mismanaging our waste, on health, and on the environment. The second part, Solid Waste Management, addresses the question HOW – the answer to which is the hierarchy of waste management, REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, to which are added, REPAIR, REPURPOSE, REDESIGN.

Mendoza warns the public not to patronize false solutions such as eco-bricks and cement co-processing using plastic waste as an alternative fuel. She considers them as pipe-dream solutions that do not address the root cause of the problem. “These will not stop the production of these problematic packaging. Instead, they give the plastic manufacturers good reason to continue their production. We need to turn off the faucet,” she says. She promotes stores that offer alternative product delivery systems that require no extra packaging by having the consumers bring their own containers. MEF has started this in Malabon, Batangas and Siquijor.

Mendoza said schools within participating barangays are included in the zero-waste program. Recently, these are Holy Spirit Elementary School in Commonwealth, Quezon City, San Fernando Elementary School, and St. Scholastica School. MEF also conducts Zero Waste Youth Camp annually and a Zero Waste Olympiad participated by public and private schools. Student volunteers from UP Manila help in information, education, communication, and waste collection in project sites.

Challenges

MEF faces challenges as it continues to fulfill its mission. These are the lack of support from the national government and the political will to enforce legislation. Mendoza is frustrated by government support of what she considers ecologically harmful and costly technologies to cover up the failure to implement RA 9003 in full. She fears that the much-touted Waste to Energy Incineration bill to reverse the ban on incineration will bring the successes of the Zero Waste program back to square one.

Moreover, environmentalists say the main culprits of the waste problem are not governments or consumers, but the multinationals that churn out plastic packaging. Of the total waste collected, data from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and MEF show that 61.26% is biodegradable, 19.17% is recyclable, 16.12% is residual and 3.44% hazardous. Of the residual plastic waste collected, a whopping 74% is branded throwaway packaging. Only 10 companies are responsible for 56% of all the branded throwaway packaging. Thus, strategies in waste reduction, composting, recycling and reuse need to include changes in consumption habits – and just as important, product design.

Worthy Undertaking

Mendoza was born in San Juan, Batangas and spent part of her elementary school days in Davao City when her father ventured into farming in Mindanao. Her family moved to Naga City in 1956 when her father took over as land administrator of the family farms in Manguiring, Calabanga, and Tinambac, Camarines Sur. She graduated from Colegio de Sta. Isabel High School, class 1960, and enrolled at first in Ateneo de Naga college in 1961. During her 3^rd year, she transferred to Mapua Institute of Technology to take up Chemical Engineering, but later shifted to BS Chemistry which she completed in 1966. She spent her school vacations in Naga City. In the ‘90s, she conducted one-day seminar-workshops on Ecological Solid Waste Management (RA 9003) in USI, AdeN and UNC. There were, however, no follow-up workshops.

Mendoza finds pursuing environmentalism a worthy undertaking as it produces a healthy citizenry and helps conserve our finite resources for the future generation. She finds joy in community organizing, creation of green jobs, seeing happy faces of the community waste workers, developing livelihood, and a self-satisfaction that one is part of the solution. Borrowing a quote from Chief Seattle, she says, “We do not inherit the Earth from our forefathers, we borrow it from our children.”

Featured photo: Dumaguete City walks for Zero Waste (2020)