EcoWaste Coalition Emphasizes Proper Waste Segregation as Business Establishments Re-Open

The EcoWaste Coalition, an advocacy group for a zero waste and toxics-free society, requested the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to highlight waste segregation at source in the rules to be issued by designated departments governing the resumption of business.

“As the government prepares guidelines for the re-opening of most business establishments following months of limited or non-operation, we suggest to concerned agencies to include provisions on mandatory separation of waste materials at the point of generation,” said Jove Benosa, Zero Waste Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition.

“We urge the authorities to make source separation as part of the ‘new normal’ to achieve the interconnected objectives of conserving resources and protecting waste workers from coronavirus infection,” he said.

“We cannot let our guard down as the risk of coronavirus exposure remains high,” he pointed out, adding that “the virus is believed to persist in surfaces, including waste materials, for up to several days.” 

“The issuance of guidelines requiring waste segregation at source will minimize the cross-contamination of discarded materials and reduce occupational exposure to the virus,” he said.

The group cited the “Health and Safety Guidelines Governing the Operations of Accommodation Establishments Under the New Normal” issued last May 22 by Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat as an example.

As stated in DOT Memorandum Circular No. 2020-002, accommodation establishments such as hotels, resorts, apartment hotels, tourist inns, motel, pension houses, private homes used for homestay, ecolodges, serviced apartments, condotels, and bed and breakfast facilities, are required to put trash bins inside the guest room, requiring further that “a separate trash bag or bin intended for used personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face mask,  gloves and other sanitation waste materials must be provided.”

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) had earlier released a “Waste Segregation Advisory” informing the public that the "proper handling of household healthcare wastes such as used face masks and gloves that are considered as special wastes will help stop the spread of COVID-19.”

The EMB likewise directed local authorities “to ensure compliance of their constituents with the proper segregation, handling and disposal of wastes” in line with the requirements of Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, and Republic Act No. 6969, or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act. 

-end

Reference:

Link to the EMB advisory:

https://emb.gov.ph/waste-segregation-advisory/

Link to the DOT memorandum circular:

https://www.facebook.com/CindysEventsandCatering/photos/pcb.3104667562957449/3104666999624172/?type=3&theater

Source of information re presence of coronaviruses on inanimate objects:

G.Kampfa, D. Todt, S.Pfaender, E.Steinmannb. Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents. Journal of Hospital Infection Volume 104, Issue 3, March 2020, Pages 246-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2020.01.022