THE French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement, or AFD) and the Metropolitan Agency for the Treatment of Household Waste in the Paris Region, or Syctom, signed a grant agreement on July 21 for a pilot project aimed at strengthening household waste management in Pasay City.
This initiative, undertaken in partnership with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), seeks to contribute to improve the quality of the Pasig River.
Both French entities noted that Metro Manila produces about 6,700 tons of household waste per day. In the absence of an effective waste collection system for its 17 million inhabitants, around 17 percent of the region’s waste ends up in the Pasig River either through dumping, or is washed away by floods.
To address this, Syctom, upon the request of the MMDA, will be leading a pilot project proposing waste treatment solutions at the Tripa de Gallina pumping station. This is expected to benefit between 20,000 and 25,000 residents of various barangays in Pasay City, and will complement the wastewater phytotreatment system managed by the Greater Paris Interdepartmental Syndicate for Sanitation.
The project’s objective is to locally implement a multichannel platform, which includes an electromechanical composting unit for organic waste to treat around 40 percent to 50 percent of household-waste deposits. It will also involve a reinforced material-recovery facility: a small-scale waste disposal and transfer center for the management of recyclables, as well as the recovery of hazardous matter such as electrical- and electronic-equipment waste.
Syctom also plans to seek the best solutions to improve the Tripa de Gallina pumping station’s treatment of screen waste, which does not allow recycling because of its level of contamination.
The project worth €623,000, or about P35.5 million, is financed by a grant work €425,000, or about P24.2 million, provided to Syctom through the AFD supporting the MMDA. This effort aims to be eventually replicated throughout Metro Manila after an initial three-year phase aimed at raising awareness among local residents toward more sustainable practices, improving the Pasig River’s water quality, and reducing health risks. Embassy of France in the Philippines and Micronesia