Imagine living in a dystopian world – thick, acrid smoke choking the skyline, covering the skies in gray tone, with an eerie hot glow burning a mountain of waste. We’ve all seen this in movies — except this was the reality in the Navotas landfill recently.
If you live near Navotas, you probably smelled the sharp, chemical stench that seem to burn the back of your throat. A massive fire broke out in the waste dump in Navotas, emitting toxic smoke in the skyline. Landfill fires are almost always caused by methane build up. When organic waste (for example, food scraps) decomposes under a big pile of garbage without oxygen, the trapped methane gas mixed with extreme heat can ignite and start a fire. The presence of plastics, papers, and chemicals in the landfill act as accelerant, leaving the pile burning for a long time.
The landfill fire wasn’t just an inconvenience – it was a huge health and environmental hazard that resulted from our throwaway lifestyle.
What makes landfill fires hazardous?
The fire’s thick smoke causes health hazards from physical discomfort (like eye and skin irritation) to serious respiratory symptoms (like shortness of breath) in nearby communities and downwind cities. The fire triggers the release of highly toxic chemicals, burning materials such as plastic (from sachets, bottles, and single-use packaging). This brings about serious environmental impact, contributing to coastal water contamination by leeching “garbage juice”, poisoning marine life and food supply.
What transpired in the Navotas landfill fire is a stark reminder that we are not exempt from the externalities of the environment. We perceive society and nature as exclusive entities; in reality, society is nested within nature. When we fail to manage our externalities – our waste – our own hubris inevitably bites back.
Why should this incident be a wake-up call for the government and the people?
In highly urbanized systems, environmental sustainability is a matter of survivability. History is littered with the consequences of neglect. London’s ‘Great Stink’ of 1858 saw the River Thames become an open sewer, sparking a public health crisis. Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River fire in 1969 proved that water could literally burn when choked with chemicals. Metro Manila is no stranger to this cycle. Chronic flooding is often a direct result of improper disposal of waste blocking our drainage systems. As history shows, and in this landfill fire, neglect is a ticking time bomb.
What is the root cause of this problem? Poor waste management system. In particular, our waste collection and segregation. It is the bottleneck between the source point and treatment.
The solution? Proactive community participation and willful governance.
Why is it that we have poor community participation? What is the biggest hurdle? While some mechanisms and infrastructure are present, the efficacy of the entire system needs to be revisited. Case in point, waste segregation bins are spread throughout the city — in malls, hotels, parks, and restaurants. A close look, however, reveals that what you throw away just falls into one big trash bag. Signages are often unclear on the classification of trash. Ultimately, the trash is thrown out mindlessly knowing it is a waste of effort especially when you realize that everything ends up in the same landfill, anyway. Waste segregation becomes ‘performative’ rather than a genuine practice.
Given that the Philippines is still heavily dependent on landfills and open dumpsites for waste disposal, are we doomed to be suffocated by these heaps of trash?
Not really. Other Philippine cities have achieved great strides in waste management, which shows that the problem is not culturally inherent – we just need willful governance and proactive communities. The city of San Fernando, Pampanga and Iloilo City were among the top 20 city leaders for best practices in zero waste according to the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Zero Waste. These cities achieved zero waste through the local government’s commitment on doubling down community engagement. They promoted programs such as ‘trash to goods’ where residents can trade trash for essential goods. Environmental education programs that trained residents to segregate were also prioritized. Similarly, in Quezon City, the ‘Trash to Cashback’ program incentivizes contribution to recycling efforts by rewarding proper waste disposal with groceries items.
Of course, community engagement is not the sole solution to the waste problem. Waste management is still systemic in nature. Strict regulatory enforcement and strong policy frameworks are critical to the success of waste management systems. This systemic synergy of governance and community is crucial for controlling the waste issue amidst a rapidly growing urban environment.
If we keep treating waste management as a ‘performative’ act, we are simply building the pyre for the next ecological disaster. If we keep playing with fire by ignoring our waste, our future may just go up in smoke in one instant.
Dr. Jonna C. Baquillas is an Associate Professor at the Department of Marketing and Advertising, Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. Dr. Ivan Gue is the Chairperson of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gokongwei College of Engineering in the same university. They are engaged in research works and projects focused on circular economy, sustainable transitions, and sustainable consumption and production.
The views expressed above are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.
