Improper waste disposal is one of the existing problems that the Philippines is facing right now

with difficulty as humans are the root of this problem. There are several studies conducted throughout the
past years that deduced the importance of proper waste disposal in the community and the effects of
improper disposal of the waste to the community, environment, and the health of the residents. All of
these are introduced in this section.

According to Khylle Tumala (January 2015) from her study in the effects of improper waste
disposal in the Philippines, “Improper waste disposal is one of the biggest environmental issues here in
the Philippines. It caused bigger problems that affect not only the environment but also the health and life
of the people. This problem may be resolve or it will remain problem to the country in the next few
years”. A law in the Philippines approved by the Office on the President on January 26, 2001 was created
in response to the rapidly growing rate of garbage problems in the country caused by improper waste
disposal. Unfortunately, even though there is a law, improper waste disposal in the Philippines was
ranked 3rd as top source of water contamination in a study on February 2015.

Waste disposal is different from waste management. Proper waste disposal is needed to properly
execute waste management. Waste Management refers to the recycling, processing, transport, assortment,
and monitoring of waste products. The waste products are mainly of three types: solid, liquid or in gas
state. Solid waste commonly is known as non-biodegradable waste (UKEssays, 2015). Their study
centered on the waste hierarchy or 3R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle – and explored waste management as a
concept and effect of waste disposal. Without properly executing waste disposal, difficulty in waste
management also emerge. It is also proven that human activities and lack of discipline are the main
reason of improper waste disposal that makes the problem difficult to resolve.

Furthermore, Marianne and Fred Sandford (2015) also claimed that improper hazardous waste
disposal doesn’t just contaminate soil and the local water supply, but it can also pollute the air. An area
with a reputation for a toxic environment can also be susceptible to lower property values, so not
following proper disposal procedures can even affect the cost of houses' properties. Long term execution
of improper waste disposal of municipal wastes can affect soil and water properties and productivity. It
also produces lethal gases such as carbon monoxide and methane gas. Disposal of refuse without proper
supervision often amounts damage to the environment and ultimately to the human body system. A public
health physician, Professor Akin Osibogun, justified that improperly disposed refuse has both direct and
indirect health effects to humans which were observed in the study of how improper waste disposal
damages health (Obama, 2015). Excessive breeding of rodents and vermin like rats, cockroaches,
mosquitoes, and flies are the direct health effects caused by improper disposal as those vermin transmit
diseases like leptospirosis, lassa fever and salmonellosis from rats; malaria from mosquitoes, shigellosis
and diarrheal diseases from flies. Indirect health effects, on the other hand, include the contamination of
water and soil from leachate – a very harmful liquid mixture of chemicals that forms as water flows from
a contaminated area.

Another study, which is about effects of improper garbage disposal (Boehlke, 2017), also implied
that humans are not the only ones who are affected but also animals. As water can be contaminated,
marine life is also in danger. When wastes cluster and form algal bloom, it can suffocate and contaminate
everything near it – may it be a habitat which includes corals or an organism like fishes, mollusks, etc.
However, a study in Ecuador which centered around the development of organic fertilizers from food
market waste and urban gardening by composting (Jara-Samaniego, Pérez-Murcia, Bustamante, Paredes,
& Pérez-Espinosa, 2017) can reduce the effects of improper waste disposal and even prevent the pile up
of wastes. Biodegradable wastes can be used for agricultural purposes because of the high concentration
that can be found on organic matters and nutrients contents of the wastes like in food market and urban
gardening wastes that can be managed and recycled through composting obtaining endproducts like
compost or fertilizer.

Solid Waste Management

According to Iyyanki Muralikrishna and Valli Manickam from ResearchGate (December, 2017),
“Without an effective and efficient waste management program, the waste generated from various human
activities, both industrial and domestic, can result in health hazards and have a negative impact on the
environment.”. An effective and efficient waste management program is a way for an area to have a clean
and safe environment. The researchers have formulated a way to accomplish the aim of Iyyanki
Muralikrishna and Valli Manickam.

Treatments and disposal methods depends on the type of problem that any community has.
Residents or any responsible citizen of the community are able to conduct an appropriate solution for the
sake of their environment. Based on their research, it is also said that various human activity can result a
negative impact that can also cause health hazards to the residents. Proper discipline and awareness of
residents is needed. Nowadays, the main problem of everybody about solid waste management is the lack
of discipline of some people, that causes growing rate of garbage problems that also affects air pollution,
water and soil contamination, floods and excessive breeding of rodents and vermin.

However, Taguti, Francoso, Viera (2017) claimed that, “Biodegradable materials are substituting
the conventional materials in many different applications. Among these, an important class is the
biodegradable polymers, also known as ecofriendly polymers mainly due to their ability to erode fast by
composting without any toxic effect.” Solid waste management can be done in different eco-friendly
ways. Some of these are: Creating less waste through reusing, rehoming for waste removal and refining
footprint example is using plastic bags from mall and using it again instead of throwing it away, as well
as plastic cups that can be use as pot of plants or people could try and sell the reusable products. Another
way is composting as waste removal, where in waste can be put in compost pit, will decompose, and
eventually turn into fertilizer. Also, food waste can be fed to farm animals like cows, pigs and goats rather
than throwing it.

Composting

Composting and vermicomposting are examples of ecofriendly ways of solid waste management
that can turn biodegradable wastes into fertilizer, that nourishes the soil condition (Barthod, Rumpel,
Dignac 2017). Composting is valuable as potting media and soil conditioner as they increase plant
available nutrient contents from the wastes, while decreasing leaching, and heavy metal mobility. It can
also reduce the carbon footprint from the human activities that produce greenhouse gases emissions
during waste degradation.
 Organic household waste containing food remnants (citrus fruit and vegetable peels, fat, dairy
products, etc.) can determine what can be composted in home gardens (Neugebauer, Sołowiej, April
2017). Compost pit can be done into different ways, in a pit dug in the ground and in a container and can
be placed in the backyard and a vacant lot. It can also be beneficial to everyone in the area.

Benefits and Long Term Effects of Composting

Compost is one of the important organic amendments that can be use in attaining sustainability in
soil and in the environment. The analysis made by US Environmental Protection Agency of the impact of
compost production and use in greenhouse gas (GHG) makes use of modeling programs that are currently
used for understanding soil carbon balances. The study reveals that compost can have minimal effect on
some emissions related to compost manufacture and some potential sequestration associated with end use
(Brown 2017). Compost pit can control the carbon footprint that an area can produce. It can also limit the
negative ways on disposing garbage that can pollute the environment like burning of the garbage.

Synthesis

The study shows how significant proper waste disposal is in a community. From the related
studies and literature, the researchers reviewed, they are able to determine and clarify the causes and
possible effects of improper waste disposal in the community, to the environment, and to the residents of
the barangay the researchers are studying.

With the help of these studies, the members were able to revise a concept or idea about waste
disposal and composting. Composting is a simple way of segregating waste to recycle and help the soil to
be more fertile for future use which can also reduce the effects of improper waste disposal and
management.

Those studies were able to help people and readers to widen their knowledge regarding to proper
waste disposal. Improper waste disposal is contributing in the worsening condition of the waste
management that affects the environment in the Philippines. This problem may remain and worsen over
time or it can be resolved, a Philippine law has been created and signed as a solution for this problem, but
it seems that it has not been effective since Philippines got a bad ranking for a water contamination based
in a study. Composting can contribute to lessen the water contamination caused by the leachate as
composting can make an area instead of contaminated into a fertile one.