Our trip began in X-Trans Cihampelas Bandung. We gathered at 8 PM
because we were going to leave for the airport at 8.30 PM. Actually, we had to
board at 6.25 AM the following morning, so we still had enough time even if we
had left for Jakarta at midnight. But in case there were unexpected events, we
decided to spare around 7 hours to check in. It turned out that we arrived at
the airport at 11.30 PM and what should we do while waiting to check in? Hmmph.
It wasn’t a short time to wait especially considering it was nighttime. We
eventually decided to just hang out at a pretty comfortable restaurant at the
airport and had a too-early-suhoor meal.
At precisely 3.30 AM we checked in, and checked in our baggage, so we
were able to move around without much luggage. We waited in the departure
lounge and had some snacks, while preparing to do the Fajr prayer. After the ticket-checking
we passed through the cabin checking where the checking officer smiled as he
looked through my belongings, as I brought so many things (typical of a lady,
and making others curious about what was in my bag). At 6.25 AM we took off to Kuala Lumpur.
Because we didn’t sleep the night before, we spent most of the journey sleeping.
In Kuala Lumpur we immediately headed off to the transit point and waited for
the time to fly to Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila. Once we arrived
in Manila at around 3.30 PM we got in line to purchase Internet data in the
Airport so that we could stay connected with family and friends in Bandung,
after passing through immigration and reclaiming our baggage, of course. It was
very important to buy the Internet data as we needed to maintain contact with
each other via Whatsapp and other social media platforms.
This was truly an incredible first-time break-fasting in a foreign
country.
That night, we assigned rooms and beds, and as there were the four of
us from Indonesia, it was easy to divide the rooms: me with Jessis, and Mr
Pipin with Piki. That night each of us took a bath and a rest for the next
day's preparation because today we'd been through a very long day. When it was
time for suhoor we ate the food we bought from the restaurant the night before.
We also ate some dates. It was exciting because it was our first suhoor in the
Philippines.
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| me and Jessis |
Our first day at Zerowaste Academy was filled with introductory
sessions of zerowaste programs and introductions of the communities. I was
amazed by the various commodities that exist in the Philippines as well as in
Malaysia and India. The participants of the academy came from a community or
NGO partner Mother Earth Foundation (MEF) that will implement similar programs
that MEF has successfully held in the city of San Fernando. I've been to the
city; I went there last January to attend the International Zerowaste
Conference. The Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) program is
simultaneously conducted in 4 countries: the Philippines, India, Malaysia and
of course Indonesia, in which a pilot project in Cimahi, Soreang and 2 urban
villages in Bandung (Kelurahan Babakan Sari and Kelurahan sukaluyu) will be
conducted. Why ESWM? Because in the 4 cities this type of waste is relatively
the same as many organic types, and of course it is possible to reduce the pile
of waste in the landfills. For this reason we were here, to learn from MEF that
has been involved in waste management for 15 years.
 |
| Alhamdulillah, we were given a zerowaste kit consisting of drinking cups, plates, spoons, and drinking straws to reduce waste. |
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| Jessis with kobo aplication in her mobilphone |
With the kobo application the data can be quickly presented and we do
not need to input data because it is directly inputted as we finish the
interview. The display of data can be used as the basis for the next planning,
for example, approximately how many people are willing to sort waste at home,
how much the people can afford to pay for waste management, etc.
Before we returned to the condo, we were provided with
materials/topics for the next day, which was WACS (waste assessment and characterization
survey), why it should be conducted and how to do it. Although I have
participated in WACS in RW 09 Sukaluyu Bandung Indonesia, I was nevertheless excited
to do it the next day. Lastly, we visited MRF Blue Ridge A, which already had proper
waste sorting. In the corner I saw the B3 (toxic and hazardous) waste, such as
lights, batteries, and electronic residue waste, collected neatly.
On Day 4 we returned to Barangay Baritan to participate in the WACS
orientation for households and distribution of materials. We were divided into
2 teams and Alhamdulillah, our group managed to get 12 households to
participate in the WACS. What we did today was to convey the purpose of our
visit and invite the community to participate in waste sorting. It wasn't easy
to invite the community to participate in the beginning, and so the educators
must be patient in explaining the purpose, and sometimes the discussion was
punctuated by non-native participants using English but the rest used Tagalog.
It was exciting as it turned out there are many similar words between our
commonly used words in Indonesia although they have different meanings.
If the people agreed to join the program then we would give them a
bucket, one transparent sack and 4 cement sacks. The buckets were for leftover
food waste, the goods sacks were for recyclables that could be sold or
recycled, the cement sacks were for garden waste (leaves falling in the yard or
hard organic waste such as corncobs, durian shells, jackfruit seeds, etc) One
cement sack was for certain waste such as sanitary napkins, baby diapers and
tissue, and a cement sack was for hazardous (B3) waste eg batteries, styro-foam,
electronic waste, etc. Another cement bag was for residual waste such as
sachets or food packaging, etc.Today's activity began with a welcoming ceremony
by the Barangay Kapten aka the 'lurah' in Indonesia, followed by a briefing by
Rap, and then a routine: taking photos together before we finally spread out to
visit the homes of the people.
Every house that received an explanation from us and agreed to sort
waste was lent a sorting site and then we asked the head of the family to sign
a statement of ability to sort waste for 8 days for the purpose of this WACS.
In selecting the houses, we should use the sampling interval formula, ie the
population level divided by the sample size (we decided on 50), so if the day
before we obeyed the rules, then we would have to invite the community to sort
waste for every 204 homes, but Rap, our interpreter used a method of draw lots:
we picked a random number and out came the number 8. So we could invite a
household to participate every time we had passed the eighth house. Although
Malabon City was very hot, we maintained the spirit to visit each home. We were
rejected at times but that didn't discourage us. It was exciting, challenging
and exhausting, hehehe…
It was very hot that day and we reached the city hall of Malabon to
reflect on and had a briefing on what we were going to do on the 5th day. But
prior to this we had been equipped with the knowledge about waste to energy
orientation for ESWM training. Alhamdulillah we finished step 1 and this was
worth celebrating. Alhamdulillah. On Day
5 we went to Barangay Muzon to observe process 2 which was multi sectoral
consultation and training.
On the 5th day we arrived at Barangay Muzon faster than we expected
and we went straight to the village hall to join the community there. Today our
role was only to observe the participants doing orientation in step 2, the
multi sectoral consulting and training. The village hall is mostly the same as
what is in the Bandung; it was crowded by audience from various backgrounds,
including: kakawad/the counsellors of Barangay, home owner associations,
women's group (maybe PKK in Indonesia), senior citizens (public figures), NGO
food for the hungry, etc. Starting with introductions and explanation of why
waste has become an issue and the legal basis of why we should do this, and
their respective roles, still in accordance with their capacities and duties
such as individuals, society, territorial, city, province, national and
inhabitants of the earth, were also explained. There were a lot of interesting
things here, one of which is some kind of Ten Commandments of the Philippines:
1. Kapitan is a star, lurah/head of village is a star, which means
that the lurah should become the community's role model.
2. 'Reduce your waste', which is the same as that in Bandung: Kang
PisMan (reduce, separate, take advantage of waste).
3. 'Segregate your waste' is applied. 'No segregation no collection'
means if the waste is not sorted then it will not be collected and transported.
4. And if it is sorted then collectors may not mix it up again.
5. Close up large or small dumpsites, meaning that it is no longer
allowed to pile up waste, no matter how little.
6. No burning, meaning burning waste, whether large or small scale, is
no longer allowed.
7. Do not hang your waste, meaning that the waste from the house or
from the source must be ensured to be given to collectors so that it can be
controlled easily. When it is unmarked then it will be returned.
8. Separate B3 waste (hazardous and toxic materials).
9. Build MRF (material recovery facility) in the area, at least one Barangay
one MRF.
10. Community participation, meaning everyone is responsible for the
program and all are agents of change.
Afterward Froilan Grate, the speaker,
invited the community to assess themselves (self assessment) on whether the
community in Barangay Muzon had already met the pre- determined standards. The
audience’s enthusiasm was apparent here, as they were very enthusiastic in
following all the steps. After that Froi also showed the WACS results which had
been previously conducted and the audience appeared to agree with the results
of the WACS, although there were several who might not have resonated with the
results.The interesting thing about Froi's explanation was his question to the
audience: "do you like waste?" They answered “nooooooo”, then Froi
responded lightly "Then why are you still producing waste? Hahaha".
Froi also explained about how to process the waste that has been sorted,
especially organic waste that is not processed by their pets.
The talk ended with the question,
"who wants to volunteer in this program?" I think this is the most
important part, because however good any program is, it will certainly not work
without the support of local cadress/activists, so the more the community is
involved, the better the program will run. Let's be spirited! Another important
thing at the end was a presentation at every community meeting, so Froi said
"When, where and who needs this presentation? Please contact the Mother
Earth Foundation staff and they will come."
After the lunch session we returned to
the city hall of Malabon city and listened to an explanation by Ate Merci from
Dumagete about health care waste. Merci explained about the composition and how
to process the waste from existing health facilities and how they process them.
It was a really interesting topic and it's actually very important for the city,
so that our infectious waste can be handled properly. She
also informed us if we wanted to know more, we could go
to www.medwastealternative.org, and health care without harm also www.noharm.org.
Merci's talk was then followed by a talk by Theeban, a representative
from Malaysia, on Chemical-Free Urban Farming. We were taught how to make
fertilizers and bioactivators for various plants. And here's how to do it:
-
Growth promoter/ fish amino acid is made from
one kilogram of fresh fish waste/ the insides of fish. Add sugar or molasses of
around 1.5 kg. Do not use water, and stir in every direction 40 times, not back
and forth but in one direction 40 times for 10 days, and we can only use this
by at the latest 7 months from the time of production. If that time is exceeded
then it it is already expired. For storage please pour into a bottle but do not
patent the lid because it will produce gas, and may explode later.. for use on
plants, take 40 ml and add 10 liters of water, and spray directly to the plants
but do not use it for seeding preparation.
Theeban also taught us about Panca kavya, egg lime solution, EM
farmers and peppelent pesticides.
At the end of the session, as usual we were briefed for the following
day.. eh, I mean it's a holiday the next day because it's a Sunday, so the
briefing was for Monday. We were to go to Barangay Baritan to conduct WACS,
which was to tag along visiting the homes of residents whom we gave containers
the previous Friday. We came to pick up the sorted waste and to see if the
citizens had properly sorted it and how much waste was generated so that we
could process the samples and use them to calculate how much waste we had to
work on if we were to implement this program in the community of a village.
Then we were to go to Barangay Muzon to see their action plan process, and at
the end would be a session at Malabon City Hall. Happy holidays!
Sunday was a day off and I planned to take a nap, but after suhoor I
couldn't go back to sleep because of the habit of not going back to sleep
anymore, so I worked on my presentation materials for Monday. I was to present a
topic on how the biopori we had made served as one way to process organic waste
in KBS in Bandung. In the afternoon we accompanied Mr Pipin to look for
souvenirs for his friends. Nica suggested we go to Araneta Center Cubao and
then we went there, but what we were looking for wasn't available, and so we
went to Tiendesitas, a place where we previously had shopped for the same thing
(in January 2017 during the International Zerowaste Conference). We returned at
5 PM and after doing my prayers I cooked pancakes for the four of us. On this
day I went to sleep early because on the following day we were to start earlier
than usual.
On Day 8 in the Philippines and the 6th day our workshop started
earlier because we were to do WACS in Barangay Baritan. We toured with waste
collectors to pick up waste that had been sorted into 6 categories. The process
was we went to the houses of the residents who had already signed the statement
and started sorting since Saturday, June 3 so today was the third day. We
weighed the sorted waste and took notes of the weight to determine the actual
waste generated. There were several households that didn't sort properly yet so
we had to re-educate them, which was a necessary process. Then after it was
finished the waste was collected and then organized, labelled as the ‘3rd day’
waste and then stored at the warehouse where it was to be divided into 30
categories. This was to be carried out by Ate Gara and his colleagues from the
Mother Earth Foundation.
Afterward we went to Barangay Muzon. We were given an explanation on
how the Action Plan of Ecological Solid Waste Management was created together
with the Barangay Captain and the authorities, who else were involved, what had
to be available, etc. The Action Plan contains information on when the activity
starts, when it ends, how much it costs, the source of funding, who the target
is and who is responsible and who is going to execute it. The information
contained in the action plan are information and education, engineering and
systems, institutionalization and enforcement, entrepreneurship and livelihood,
implementation and related activities. Barangay Muzon Captain is very friendly
and answered every question well, as well as the Kagawad, Councellors and the
committee members. The multi sectoral that must be present were members of
womens' organizations, youth reps, hygiene officers and waste collectors, stall
owners, businessmen, heads of markets, schools, public figures, etc.
After lunch we went to the home of the Mother Earth Foundation's
chairman. This time the class session was held at Tita Sonia's house because
this night there would be a dinner gathering so we didn't have to go to other
places. We didn't forget to take photos because we, the Indonesian team, were
wearing the same clothes, the biopori clothes.This session was on organic waste
processing and we were enlightened about organic waste processing explained by
Froi, as follows:
 |
| So in summary, before we throw away our leftover food, we should use it before it finally becomes waste, such as by giving it to the needy and feeding animals before it is finally processed into compost. |
After that, at the participants sharing session at the workshop,
Jessis and I represented the Indonesia team to explain about how biopori can
solve the problems of flooding, soil fertility and organic waste processing. My
presentation was based on practice. I used Cibunut as an example in which
biopori has been used since Froi had already visited it so it was very easy for
him to understand and add his explanation. Alhamdulillah the sharing session
went well and inspired the other participants.
Before the snack afternoon break we had been invited to play games and
out came many various alternatives of processing of organic waste. It was
exciting because we got to know that in all countries in the world anywhere
people have made the effort of processing organic waste to have it decomposed
back and return to nature. And we also got the task to be able to actually do
what we had recommended for organic waste processing for the MRF Bonifacio the
next day. After our team discussed it, it was decided that Takakura became our
choice. We asked our facilitator, Nica, to prepare all the materials we needed
and finally the workshop session ended with some fun. Dinner was to start at
6.30 pm, adjusted to the Maghrib call to prayer in Quezon city. While waiting
for dinner, Theeban explained about the usefulness of the plants that exist in
Tita Sonia's garden. So in between sessions and dinner we took the opportunity
to interact and share stories while taking photos, of course. We had dinner
with the board of MEF, starting with prayers and introductions of the guests
and ending with a photo session.
On the 7th day of our workshop we went to Barangay Panghulo to carry
out some door-to-door education. We were divided into 3 groups and each group
was further divided into 3 groups. Ate Gara first showed us how we should do
the task for one of the houses on the street and then we split up. I went with
Ate Gara, and Muku from Thailand on the tour. It was fun and interesting even
though it was a very hot day. After it was finished I asked Ate Gara if I could
try to ride a pedicab back to the Barangay? and Ate Gara allowed it and finally
I rode with Muky back to Barangay. It was fun!
After lunch we returned to Malabon City Hall to listen to an
explanation about organic waste processing. The topic was delivered in the
following order:
1. Rice Hull Composting box presented by Marito from Tackloban
2. Balck Soldier Fly presented by Piki from Indonesia
3. Solar Composter for Organic Solid Waste Management presented by
Darwin from India
4. Domestic Unit presented by Suseela from Malaysia
5. 4 Tank System presented by Theeban from Malaysia
6. Brick Terawang presented by Jessis from Indonesia
And the sessions were always ended with a briefing of the the next
day’s agenda and we were going to go rather far to MRF Bonifacio, so we were
asked to prepare the equipment.
On the 8th day we went to MRF Bonifacio in Tagig city. We received an
explanation of how the Barangay made innovations in its waste management until
it became the winner of the Manila metro as the best Ecological Solid Waste
Management (EAWM) district. We met the Barangay Captain along with his kagawad
(counsellors and committee). The Captain told me that when he started this ESWM
activity he was still a kagawad in the environmental sector and because he
succeeded in making his village the best, he was appointed captain. It had
taken about a year to achieve that point. The key to his success was to take
every opportunity to interact with the community because the people needed the
proper and clear education and guidance. Once in every two weeks the
counsellors and committee meet to coordinate and find the best way to encourage
the community to be willing to sort their waste and to process it independently
and to make people aware of the clean and healthy life and to maintain this
activity continuously. They disseminate information waste segregation
continuously every day to the community for a full month. The key, he said, was
"working together", meaning that strong cooperation from various
parties was necessary to realize this and the most important was also the
leadership of the territorial authorities, because the territory, helped out by
many parties, must conduct evaluation and monitoring on a regular basis so that
the program runs continuously. Maybe initially it will be very challenging but
if it is running effectively, it will be easier, and everything is done
according to the rules, and so of course the role of the kelurahan/barangay
becomes highly important during penalty/rule enforcement.
They also make tiles made from a mix of cement and plastic pieces,
with a ratio of 1 sack of cement plus 1-2 kg of plastic, so the paths here were
made from the plastic mixture.
This was my second visit to MRF Bonifacio. The first was for the
Zerowaste international Conference and there was something new that I found
here: the composting model that they adopted from India. The plan was that
Bonifacio would be the center of organic waste processing learning in Manila,
so this time we were to create 3 new models of composting.
After that we checked the tools and materials we ordered for each
group. After lunch we were to present what we want to share with our friends in
Bonifacio as an alternative to organic waste processing. While the others had
lunch, the 3 of us people from Indonesia usually looked for a place to do our
prayers and luckily today we had the opportunity to try out the local
transportation mode of the Philippines: the jeepney and pedicab. And lucky for
us we were given a chance to pray in the classroom of a daycare (kind of like a
PAUD in Indonesia). It cured our longing to teach, hehe, and respect goes to
the teachers there who set the classroom with various learning media.
Team 1 presented about the vermi compost, of which production process
is as follows: the first layer is of stone of about 1 inch, the second layer is
of sand of also 1 inch, the third layer is of dirt of 1 inch, and the final
layer is of compost, filled to near the top. Add some worms and make water
droplets and cover the top with a cloth. Oh, and the container must have a hole
or a tap to take the water produced from the compost. There are two advantages:
we can process the organic waste and obtain liquid fertilizer.
Team 2 was us, and we demonstrated the process of making Takakura,
which is made from the mixture of bran, compost, husk, and sugared water. My
part was sewing the husk pads with Mr Pipin, and Piki and Jessis prepared our
Takakura starter kit. We made natural AM4 from the mixture of sugared water and
soil that can be used for fertilizer or bioactivator.
Unfortunately for Team 3, their tools and materials had to be put away
because it turned out that the assemblers that they summoned did not come, so
they simplified their demonstration using an analogy. They explained about box
composting, of which basic concept is to make a box sized 1 m x 1 m x1 m, layer the inside with bamboo but underneath
is soil, put in the leaf litter and then food waste and then soil, repeatedly
until it is full, after which it is closed and the moisture/humidity
occasionally checked on.
And then the session was ended with a reflection session and we all
returned to our condo. 
On the Day 9 we went to Barangay Ibaba, where people were doing a dry
run, meaning that they were holding trials on implementing waste sorting in the
area. It's the 3rd day they did a dry run and there were still some people who
didn't sort their waste. This was still tolerated because this was kind of a practice
for the citizens so that they would be adept at it once they really implement
it. There were many things that I observed in this Barangay. One of them was
the Captain's spirit and his kagawads. It was a moodbooster for his volunteers.
Oh, and in every Barangay/kelurahan there is a women's organization that is
often dubbed 'ladies'; in our hometown it's probably the PKK and the like.
Those who were usually volunteers helped us out in the field. And it was just
like what we have at home; there is a kind of Posyandu and PAUD. Ibaba is an
area that is often flooded when it rains.
After the afternoon break, in the afternoon session we were given an
explanation about Dumaguete by Tita Merci Ferrer. It is a very beautiful place
but now it has become very filthy because of waste, and there will be an
attempt to make it a duplicate of San Fernando.
We then
listened to an explanation about WACS and its purpose. The goal of WACS (Waste
Assessment Characterization Studies) is to determine:
1. How much
MRF is needed
2. What kind
of composter is appropriate and how much land is needed
3. How many
times transport is needed in a week
4. How many
collectors/haulers are needed
5. How much
to prepare (budget)
6. How much
savings we get
On Day 10 we went to Barangay Florest to see how they did a full
implementation of the ESWM program and we saw something that made us have to
appreciate it: out of all the Barangays we have visited, this is the one place
where a full team was present; the Barangay captain complete with his secretary
and staff. His kagawad was also present, and the ladies as volunteers were
numerous. Subhanallah we were sure they would be able to implement this program
well. Although there were still some residents who hadn't fully sorted their
waste, we could see that the enforcement of the rules was already in place. We saw
some residents who still disposed of their mixed waste which had to be
separated by them in front of waste collection officers, witnessed by
volunteers from the kelurahan. Moreover, several residents who did not separate
their waste properly were scolded directly by the barangay authorities.
After that we went to San Fernando city, a city where the ESWM program
has been implemented fully, along with plastic reduction. This was my second
time in the city hall and we were warmly welcomed by Ate Anel, the head of the
environmental department. There we listened to an explanation of how the city
started and monitors this program and how the rules are upheld.
They have
many ways and programs to make the city be able to run this ESWM program along
with its plastic bags, including through:
1. Posters
2. Facebook
3. Reality
games on local TV
4. The radio
and other media
5. Regular
youth camps
6. Jingle
completion: an environment themed song
7. Ecobag
painting contest, etc
We were taken to the super market and the rules that there should be
no plastic bags were being upheld and categorized trash bins were also
provided. There was also a special AMDK (plastic bottle) waste container. We
then went to the traditional market and there were no plastic bags. The only
bags allowed there were the clear ones and made of cow's knees. After I had
observed I asked around to the merchants, and they stated that nobody had been
using plastic bags anymore for shopping. But Ate Anel said that young people
could only implement this in big stores, not yet at sari-sari stores (stalls and small shops), but it will be
implemented gradually.
On the 11th day we returned to Barangay Baritan to carry out the WASC
again. We did the measuring, calculating and separating of the waste collected
for 8 days so we could determine what the actual type of waste was in the area
and how much there was. Today we got a bonus because it turned out we finished
at 1.30 PM, Alhamdulillah. But it turned out that most of us did not want to
return to the condo that soon, so we gathered again at GAIA's office with the
others talking about all sorts of things
until it was the time for ifthar. Alhamdulillah after our dinner we split up
and returned to the lodge. On the next day we had a day off because we had to
get ready to go to Batangas for Graduation Day.
Finally we arrived in Batangas and it turned out that we stopped by
first at an ecological conservation center. There we found out how they try to
protect the area. The area is on the shore of a lake and in the middle of the
lake is a very disaster-prone area because there is a volcano,
Kapusag-Kinalaglagan-Mataasnakahoy. Batangas is a very beautiful place that
makes us feel at home there. This made Froi extend our time staying there.
After that we went to Shercon-Resort-and-Ecology-Park for graduation day,
hooray!
At Shercon we were asked to wear a traditional dress and display each
of our cultures, starting from the MEF team and followed by GAIA's
presentation, then from Takloban and friends, and then Indonesia and Malaysia.
We performed the song "Manuk Dadali" with the ketuk tilu dance. That night we were pleased about our togetherness
and finally I fell asleep.
What is so memorable about this Zerowaste Academy is that we were all
close to each other, as if we were old friends. People were so warm that I felt
like at home. The one thing that I like
the most about this activity is that the learning-by-doing method that we used,
so for me the explanations on how to do things were very clear. Even though the
three of us were fasting, Alhamdulillah we were in high spirits and didn't
complain. The weather at Metro Manila at that time was at its hottest and the
most difficult thing was resisting the thirst, especially when around us
everyone else was not fasting, but of course it did not discourage us because
we know that this was just a brief temptation. Alhamdulillah during our stay
there the three of us always fasted in full despite the heat.
 |
 |
| me with jeepney |
Another
thing that I like from the Philippines is the jeepney, a unique vehicle which
is Subhanallah decorated very creatively. Moreover, during my stay at the Pinecrest
Condominium, there's the beautiful scenery that I always enjoyed from our room
balcony on the 15th floor. I was so grateful indeed to watch the sunset and
sunrise. From the balcony I was always amazed by the beauty of the city and its
sky.
 |
| Seventeen days in the Philippines made it hard for us to part. Good luck for everything, everyone! |
by : Tini Martini Tapran
Translated
by: Arimbi
Mardilla Ashany
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