A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Management

ALITAGTAG IS Working TOWARDS A WASTE-FREE FUTURE

The quality of our environment largely determines the quality of our physical health and
well-being, and solid waste management is certainly a pressing concern in environmental
health. Let’s look at some numbers from a study done by World Bank (2018):
• An estimated 2.0 billion metric tons of waste was generated worldwide in 2018.
• It is estimated that by 2050 — a mere thirty years from now — 3.4 billion metric
tons of waste will be generated worldwide.

OUR COMMITMENT PARTNERING WITH THE NEXT GENERATION

We at Alitagtag believe that we all have a role to We recognize that we will not achieve our vision
play in conserving our natural resources, alone, so this activity book was developed with the
protecting the environment, and reducing the third core area in mind—recognizing the power of
amount of waste we generate. the youth to change the future, starting from the
choices and habits that you make today.
Alitagtag is deeply committed to making our
packaging 100% recyclable or reusable by 2025, Through these activities, we hope to partner with
as part of our vision that none of our packaging you to:
ends up as litter or in landfills. We have also • Think about how we produce and consume
committed to reduce the use of virgin plastic by products, and its effects on the environment;
1/3 by 2025.
• Practice the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
To achieve this, Alitagtag has been exploring – consistently, and urge others to do the same;
multiple solutions in three core areas: • Be more mindful about the waste we generate,
• Innovating to develop the packaging for the and how to manage that waste properly.
future; Since a significant amount of solid waste is
• Helping to increase collection, recovery and generated in homes, we hope that these modules
recycling of waste in an effort to shape a will encourage you to take responsibility for
waste-free future; proper waste management in your own home and
advocate for it in your community. Join us and be a
• Helping to drive new behaviors and
understanding on the proper management of kasambuhay for the environment!
waste.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

13 ZERO IN ON
WASTE

16 COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS

19 WHAT IS THE RIGHT WAY

TO SEGREGATE WASTE?
 A CIRCUlAR E‡OhOMT
k$7 POINTS • In a Linear Economy, natural resources are
taken and made into products that are used
and then disposed as waste. If we do not
• To make many of our everyday products,
manage our consumption and waste properly,
manufacturers must extract virgin resources we risk the availability of non-renewable
from the Earth and process these materials resources, and generate waste that may
in manufacturing plants. They are then further harm our environment.
transported and distributed to consumers,
requiring products to be packaged in order • We should embrace the concept of a Circular
to maintain their quality as they are being Economy where products are designed to
transported. be used again, or built to last. A circular
economy aims to recover materials for further
• Extracting, processing, and transporting
use, rather than resorting to extraction of
natural resources may cause problems for our
virgin, raw materials.
environment, such as:
• Pollution of our land, water and air
• Emission of greenhouse gases into the O&K3C1IVtS
atmosphere, which can lead to climate
By the end of this lesson, you shall be able to:
change
• Explain how the production of various
• Destruction of animal habitats or
products impacts our natural resources and
disruption of ecosystems
environment.
• Renewable resources are those that can be
replenished almost as quickly as they are • Explain the concepts of a Linear versus a
used, such as the sun and wind used for Circular Economy and the advantages of a
generating energy. Circular Economy for our environment.

Trees, plants and animals are also renewable

resources but need time to replenish, so we
need to be careful with how we use these.
• Non-renewable resources are those that
take millions of years to regenerate, such as
minerals and fossil fuels.
We need to change our mindset about how we
use the products that are made from these.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 4

 LET’S LEARh TOGETHER

Everything we use is made from natural resources. Write down 5 things in your room. Do research on
how each item is made and what they are made of. List the parts and materials of each item in the
second column. Estimate how long you can use it before you need to throw it away. (An example is
provided in the first row.)

Everything we use, their parts and materials, are taken from the Earth. Trees, plants and animals are used
to make paper products, food and clothing. Minerals and sand are used to make metal and glass products.
Gas, oil and fossil fuels are used to make plastic products.
 THE STORY OF A DIAPER
Let’s look at this process of
TAKING and MAKING in the case
of a disposable baby diaper.

EXTRACT RAW MATERIALS

1 Raw materials are natural resources in pure, untouched form.

A disposable baby diaper uses raw materials like wood pulp
(for the absorbent inner material) and oil (for the plastic,
leak-proof lining). These raw materials need to be extracted
from their source.

Raw materials are then transported or shipped

to facilities where they are manufactured into other
materials. Wood pulp is mixed with other components to
become soft, white and absorbent. Plastic is molded into
thin sheets for lining.

MANUFACTURE THE PRODUCT

Processed materials are brought to yet another facility, where

they are put together to form the finished product.
The product is also placed inside packaging to keep it clean
while it’s transported, or stored in warehouses.

The product is eventually brought to a place where it can be

sold, like a supermarket or grocery store.

PURCHASE THE PRODUCT

The people who buy the product then transport it to their

homes, where they use it for their babies.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 6

 But wood pulp and plastic are not the only natural resources that were used to make
a diaper. In this process, the materials were TRANSPORTED several times and were
MANUFACTURED in several facilities. Transporting and manufacturing both use up
fuel and electricity, release carbon dioxide and other chemicals into the air.
They may also produce chemical wastes, and if these are improperly discarded, they
can contaminate our land, water table and waterways.

In the end, we throw away used diapers

because they can’t be washed and their
materials can’t be recycled.

This is what happens in a LINEAR

ECONOMY. Natural resources
are taken and made into
products that are disposed
after use. In a Linear
Economy, we:
We run out of resources
because we keep taking
from the environment to
replace what we throw.
We fill up landfills more
quickly.

Natural resources are taken and made into products

that are disposed after their use.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 7

 When we TAKE from the environment to MAKE a
product, this has various effects on the environment.

• It uses up natural resources, which may

also result in deforestation, destruction
of animal habitats or disruption of
ecosystems.
• It produces gases and chemical waste
that can pollute the land, water, and air.
• It emits greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere which can cause global
warming and climate change.

Aside from these effects on the environment, we

need to remember that not all of our resources
are renewable.

Renewable resources can be replenished almost

as quickly as they are used (ex: sun, wind, water).

Non-renewable resources take years to

regenerate, such as minerals. If we are not careful
about how we use them, we may not have
enough for our use in the future.

OlD fOU kWOU?

Global warming is the increase in the

average surface temperature of the Earth.
Climate change includes global warming
and extreme weather conditions like heavy
typhoons and droughts.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 8

 We need to shift our thinking and behavior toward a CIRCULAR ECONOMY. In a Circular Economy,
we maximize the use of, and reduce the need for, new raw materials.

Products are designed to last in such a way that we lessen the resources we need to take from the
Earth. They are designed so that their components can be reused, repaired, or recycled - and not
merely disposed. In a Circular Economy, used materials are recovered for further use.

Products are designed in such a way that we lessen the resources

we need to take from the Earth.

To help you understand this concept, let’s imagine a

typical forest filled with trees and plants.
Insects like grasshoppers and caterpillars eat plants
and trees. These insects are eaten, in turn, by small
animals such as birds or frogs. Birds or frogs are
preyed upon by larger animals, such as snakes.
When a snake dies, it decomposes and returns
to the ground. Its decomposing body provides
nutrients to the soil that allows trees and plants to
grow — and the cycle starts all over again.
In the forest, nothing goes to waste. This is similar
to what a CIRCULAR ECONOMY aims to achieve.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 9

 Now let’s look at the process
of making a water bottle.

In the case of a plastic bottle, the raw material is oil and

fossil fuel, and these are extracted from the ground.

The raw material is shipped to a facility where it is made into

plastic material. At this point of the process, the raw material
is already formed into plastic, but not yet formed into a
water bottle.

MANUFACTURE THE PRODUCT

The plastic material is transported yet again to another

facility that molds the plastic into the shape of bottles.

ASSEMBLE THE FINISHED PRODUCT

The empty plastic bottles are taken to yet another facility

and filled with clean drinking water. The bottled water is
then sealed and stored in packaging boxes to protect the
contents.

PURCHASE THE PRODUCT

5 The bottles are transported yet again, to either a

warehouse or to places where they can be sold, such as a
supermarket or convenience store. Customers go there to
buy the product.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 10

 Plastics are made from raw materials like oil and fossil fuel, which are extracted from the
ground. The raw materials go through a lot of processing that uses up fuel and energy.
Transporting the materials from one manufacturing facility to another also uses up fuel and
releases chemicals like carbon dioxide into the air. And after all that, people use them once
and then throw them away.

But in a CIRCULAR ECONOMY we look for ways to avoid having to extract more oil to make
plastic bottles. We gather used plastic bottles and recycle them for future products, rather
than simply throwing them away.

RECYCLE

In a Circular Economy, the oil and fossil fuels that

have already been extracted to make plastic are
maximized, thereby reducing the need to extract
new raw materials.

Plastic bottles are designed so that they can be

recycled or recovered for further use.

Household appliances are often made of metal and

plastic parts. In a Linear Economy, these appliances
would most likely end up in a garbage dump. In a
Circular Economy, the manufacturer makes sure that:
The different components can be easily replaced
or repaired;
Parts that can’t be replaced or repaired can be
made of compostable or recyclable materials;
There is a way to retrieve old appliances
for disassembly, and segregate parts for
decomposition or recycling.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 11

LET’S TRf THIS!

Identify the major components of a bicycle and an electric fan.

Think of how they will be discarded in a Take, Make and Dispose model.
In the space below, describe how they can be reused and recycled in a Circular model.

TAKE MAKE USE DISPOSE

REUSE / RECYCLE

TAKE MAKE USE DISPOSE

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 12

ZERO lh OW
O&K3C1IVtS
By the end of this lesson, you shall be able to:

• Explain how we can protect our natural

resources and environment by avoiding

WASTE
or reducing waste, and prioritizing use of
products that can be recycled or reused.
• State the importance of practicing the
3Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
• Give examples of how to practice the 3Rs.

Ultimately our goal is to control the amount of natural resources that we need to take from
the environment and minimize the amount of waste we generate.

Waste Management Hierarchy

Avoiding waste should be our priority.

If we cannot avoid waste, then we should practice the 3R’s of
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to save our environment and lessen
the waste that ends up in a landfill.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 13

 REOUCE REUSE RECY‡LE
Purchasing only what we need Look for ways that items can Recycling plants can turn waste
helps to lessen the number of be used over and over instead into usable materials. Sort your
things that eventually end up of just throwing them away. waste and give recyclable items to
as waste. Ask yourself: Ask yourself: a junk shop or your basurero, who
can send it to recyclers for you.
• Do I really need this item? • Can I donate this item?
• Can I borrow this instead? • Clean, dry newspaper can be
• Can I find reusable
• Will it just end up as alternatives to disposable recycled to paper.
waste? • Plastic can be processed into
items?
fabrics, bottles, and new plastic
• Can an old item be
Buying in bulk also reduces items.
repurposed?
waste. It takes longer to use • Glass can be processed into
up a product that we buy new glass bottles and jars.
in bulk and this reduces the • Metal is remelted to make new
amount of packaging that is items.
used up.

OlD fOU kWOU?

Products come in different forms of packaging, which plays a big role in a product’s quality
and safety. Packaging:

• Protects the inner contents from getting wet or being exposed to elements that can affect its
quality or cause spoilage.
• Prevents contamination from germs and bacteria that could make you sick.
• Protects the product while it is stored and transported, especially if the factory is far away from
the places where it is sold.
• Gives important information about
ingredients, calories, nutritional
value that can help you make better
food choices and avoid food that
you’re allergic to.

So you see, packaging is necessary,

but we can opt for packaging that is
recyclable or reusable.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 14

LET’S TRf THIS!

Here are nine challenges to show you care for the environment! How many can you do in one
week? For each challenge you accomplish, describe what you did or how you did it in the space
provided.

LET’S BE MINOFUl
How mindful are you about managing waste? Answer the questions
belo w to find out.

Don’t
YES NO
Know
Does your family use a separate container for each type of waste?
1 (i.e. compostable, non-recyclable, recyclable and special waste)

Does your family consistently set aside recyclable materials to be turned over
2 to a recycling center or materials recovery facility?
Does your family make a consistent effort to prepare waste items for collection,
such as:
• cutting or folding items (such as boxes or steel) to save space
• separating broken glass, by color, in sturdy containers
• separating white paper from colored paper
3 • cleaning and drying items that have potential for recycling, such as used
beverage cartons or food cans
(If you answer NO to any one of the above bullet points, then your response for
the entire item should be NO.)

Do you know where the collected waste is taken for final disposal when it
4
leaves your neighborhood?
Do you know whether the final disposal of your barangay’s waste is
5 environmentally safe and sustainable?

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 15

 ‡OMMUWITf • Special waste pertains to items which
require special handling or treatment in a
particular facility:

SOLUTlONS
• Hazardous waste that contain toxic
materials or chemicals
• Healthcare waste that contain infected
materials and require special handling.
• Bulky waste that require special
hauling arrangements due to their size
and physical attributes.
k$7 POINTS • Republic Act No. 9003, also known as the
Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of
• Waste can be classified as biodegradable and 2000, describes the responsibilities of each
non-biodegradable. city/municipality, barangay and household
in protecting public health and environment
• Biodegradable waste are those that can be through solid waste avoidance and volume
broken down by microorganisms naturally, reduction, and proper segregation, collection,
such as leftover food, paper waste, or plant transport, storage, treatment and disposal.
waste. Biodegradable waste can be used as
compost for gardens or to feed animals.
• Non-biodegradable waste cannot be broken O&K3C1IVtS
down by microorganisms, and these can
stay on the earth for thousands of years. By the end of this lesson, you shall be able to:
Non-biodegradable waste can be further • Define what is meant by waste and classify
segregated into the following categories, different types of waste.
which also is the basis for their proper
disposal. • Identify the proper means of disposal for
different types of waste.
• Recyclable waste includes plastic, dry
paper, metal, glass. These are sent to • Explain why proper waste disposal is
recycling centers for further processing. important to our health and well-being.

• Residual waste pertains to items that • Describe responsibilities of each city/

have been soiled by food scraps or oil, municipality, barangay and household under
and these may or may not be further the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act
processed for recycling. Residual waste of 2000 (Republic Act 9003).
that do not have the potential to be • Teach and encourage family members,
recycled are to be segregated for neighbors, and the community to segregate
transport to a sanitary landfill. waste properly.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 16

LET’S LEARh TOGETHER

Reducing, reusing and recycling items can make a big difference in lowering the
waste we generate — but we still have to think of responsible ways to manage
whatever waste is left. Here are some alternatives to putting them in landfills.

Waste treatments can help minimize the space that waste occupies, remove toxic
effects, and use waste to generate energy. This includes:

Pyrolisis ‡o-Processing Waste-to-Energy

Waste materials are Cement factories place Waste is thermally
exposed to very high heat waste in kilns as a treated to generate
with little or no oxygen. substitute for coal for heat to run steam
This controls emissions energy generation. turbines to generate
and produces a liquid that electricity.
can be upgraded to fuel.
It is an alternative energy
source to non-renewable
resources like oil and coal.

OlD fOU kWOU?

The World Bank estimates that by

2025, solid waste being produced by
Philippine cities will go up by 77,776
tons per day.1

According to the National Solid

Waste Management Commission
(NSWMC), 52% of this waste
is biodegradable, and 28% is
recyclable.2 Segregating waste can
help minimize the amount of trash
that goes into landfills!

World Bank. (2012). What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management.
1

Senate Economic Planning Office. (2017). Solid Wastes at a Glance.

2

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 17

 The last resort is waste disposal in sanitary landfills. The
Philippines lacks available and acceptable land for disposing
our waste, and 70% of our waste (as of 2019) was illegally TRASH TO TREASURE
disposed on open and controlled dumpsites. Open dumpsites
pose health risks, such as: When properly harnessed,
methane gas can be used
• Affecting the water table where we get our drinking water as fuel, and can produce
• Polluting waterways electricity and heat.
• Causing accidents like trash slides
• Producing methane gas

A sanitary landfill is carefully designed to prevent chemicals and unsafe substances from contaminating
the surrounding soil and water, and the water table beneath it.

In these landfills, layers of garbage are alternated with layers of soil. This controls odors, allows the
garbage to decompose more rapidly, and also helps keep the piles stable to prevent erosion and trash
slides.

When a landfill is full, it is sealed and covered with a thick layer of clay soil. It is left to settle for a very
long time—roughly 20 to 30 years—and once it has been evaluated as safe, the land is converted back
into a park or open space for recreation.

This is why it is so important for us to segregate our waste properly at home. This simple step makes it easier
for waste materials to go to the right recycling facility, or be properly treated before being sent to a landfill.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 18

WHAT lS THE RlGHT WAf HOW MUCH DO fOU THROW?

TO SEGREGATE WASTE?
Want to know how much food waste you
generate? Try this:
Place your food waste in an empty tub
after every meal. Once you fill up a tub,
ALWAYS separate BIODEGRADABLE WASTE. you may dispose its contents, but keep
track of how many tubs you fill up in a
This includes kitchen waste like leftovers, week. Ask your friends to do the same
vegetable peelings, and garden waste like dried and analyze how much food waste you
leaves, grass, plant stems and branches. all could potentially generate in a week,
a month, or even a year.
Biodegradable waste can be used for animal feed
or composting for fertilizer. If you do not have a Challenge each other to reduce your food
pet, you can give it to a neighbour who does. waste and measure your progress.

Each barangay is also supposed to collect food

waste and biodegradables for composting.
Not separating biodegradable waste will
contaminate the non-biodegradable waste, making
it unsuitable for recycling.

Segregate the different kinds of NON-BIODEGRADABLE WASTE.

Non-biodegradable waste do not decompose. There are three kinds: recyclable, residual and special.

Give recyclable waste to junk shops, bote-dyaryo or recycling

centers. OlD fOU kWOU?
Prepare them beforehand so they can be recycled properly. When recyclable waste like
• Make sure newspapers are not soiled. plastic comes in contact with
kitchen waste, it’s harder
• Rinse and dry glass, plastics and metals so they are clean when
they are picked up. to reuse or recycle them.
ALWAYS segregate your
• If glass is broken, place in a sturdy container so the pieces don’t
“wet” and “dry” trash.
injure trash collectors.
• Try not to mix different colors of glass.

19
 Clean up residual wastes.

These are items such as sachets and used beverage cartons.

Some paper mills are equipped to recycle beverage cartons.
There are a number of recycling facilities as well that can
take in sachets and turn them into different products like
bricks. Find out if there is one near where you live so you can
separate these items for recycling.

Just cut any beverage carton or packs open, empty contents,

rinse and dry. Any straws should be pushed back in the pack
before handing these boxes over to be recycled.

Sachets should be clean and dry before sending these to

collection points or recycling facilities.

Dispose of special waste properly.

There are three sub-categories of special, non-biodegradable waste. The first is hazardous waste.
These should not be thrown away with other wastes because they contain toxic materials and must be
registered with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in order to obtain the necessary
permits for their disposal.

The two other kinds of special waste are healthcare waste and buiky waste. These also need special
hauling and handling.

Hazardous Healthcare Bulky

REPUBLIC ACT 9003: ECOLOGI‡AL SOLIO WASTE MAhAGEMENT A‡T OF 2000

• Each barangay is responsible for forming a
• Each household is responsible for sorting and
committee that will ensure that biodegradable/
segregating their waste, selling recyclables
compostable and recyclable waste is segregated
directly to recycling centers, or making sure
and properly collected.
that recyclables are retrieved.
• Each barangay must establish a Materials
• Each household should use separate
Recovery Facility to retrieve recyclables that can
and appropriately marked containers for
be sold to recycling centers.
compostable, recyclable, residual and special
waste. • Each barangay must also have facilities for
composting.
• Each household is encouraged to do
their own composting, or make sure that • It is the city or municipality’s responsibility
compostable materials are separated for the that all residual and special waste is collected
barangay to retrieve. transported, treated or disposed in a way that
protects the public’s health and the environment.

BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 20

Identify examples of each category of waste. Note down important guidelines for managing each kind of waste.

‡ategory of Waste Examples Importafht Guidelines for Mafhagifhg Waste

Biodegradable

Food / Kitchen Waste

Yard Waste

Non-Biodegredable

Recyclable

Residual

Special

Hazardous

Healthcare

Bulky

LET’S TRf THIS!

‡HAlLEhGE YOUR FRlENOS
Can you and your family take the Waste-Free Challenge? For one day, go
through an entire day without throwing away any trash in any trash can.
Gather a group of
Take note of opportunities when you were able to avoid throwing friends and see who can
something away. Remember what you were doing, and how you were able correctly list the most
to think of a way to reduce/reuse/recycle. At the end of the day, discuss as number of items for each
a family: waste category:
• Biodegradable
• Was it easy to accomplish a waste-free day?
• If yes, what were your strategies for avoiding waste? • Recyclable
• What difficulties did you experience? • Residual
• Special - Hazardous
Brainstorm how you can work together to reduce waste and properly
dispose of it. • Special - Healthcare
• Special - Bulky
BE AN ACE AT REDUCING WASTE: A Teen’s Guide to Solid Waste Maftagement 21