Solid Waste Management (RA 9003)

Solid waste refers to wastes from households, municipal services, construction debris and
the agricultural sector. This also includes non-hazardous, non-liquid wastes from institutions and
industries. (RA 9003) According to the World Bank (2001), its generation is greatly affected by a
country’s development. Generally, the more economically prosperous a country is, the more waste
is generated per capita. Table 1.1 presents a comparison of municipal waste generation of different
cities in the world.

Table 1.1 International Comparison of Municipal Solid Waste Generation by City*
City and Country Generation (kg/capita/day)

Industrialized Countries:
New York, USA 1.80
Hamburg, Germany 0.85
Rome, Italy 0.69

Middle-income Countries:
Cairo, Egypt 0.50
Kano, Nigeria 0.46
Manila, Philippines 0.60
Tunis, Tunisia 0.56

Low-income Countries:
Calcutta, India 0.51
Karachi, Pakistan 0.50
Jakarta, Indonesia 0.60

*(WB, 2001)
Solid waste management (SWM), on the other hand, pertains to the control of the
“generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and disposal (RA 9003)” of
solid waste in a fashion that is in accordance to societal and economic needs while at the same time
compliant to environmental standards and principles.
Solid waste is a telltale sign of how citizens’ lifestyles change as a result of economic
development. Furthermore, the distribution of waste generation in the different regions of a country
is indicative of its degree of urbanization. In cities, where standard of living is higher, there is
usually a higher waste output compared to rural areas. This is reflective of the case of the
Philippines where its capital and largest urban center, Metro Manila, generates almost a quarter of
the country’s total waste generation (WB, 2001).
The issue of solid waste in Metro Manila gained international attention in the 1980s through
the Smokey Mountain dumpsite, which became representative of poverty in the Philippines
(Gonzales, 2002). It used to be the country’s largest dump and is also one of the largest slums in
the world (Yashwant, 2002). The government was concerned about the negative image that this
gave the country that it was eventually closed in 1995.

Reference:
http://www.lumes.lu.se/database/alumni/02.03/theses/navarro_rhea_abigail.pdf