The Plastic Giving Tree

This one deserves and entry all its own: a prison is encouraging its inmates to make crafts out of recyclables. This is a PET bottle, probably Mountain Dew soda or something, that has been molded into a bamboo tree! It is just beautiful. The picture is taken at the Dept of Environment and Natural Resources during an interview with the dynamic head of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, Attny Andin. I ask him about the recycling industry in the Philippines and how he can quantify its growth. "I know that the theft of recyclables is on the increase!" Well that's a sure sign. A big thumbs up for the inmates at the Manila Lily Jail, female dorm.

Visit to Payatas Controlled Landfill

On Saturday, David and I went to the Payatas controlled landfill. Unlike Smokey, Payatas is very much an active dump and receives 1,200T of trash per day, exclusively from Quezon City. In the past, trash was just dumped here with no waste management and over the past 30 years a mountain of 5 million T of trash has grown on this private property. Since 2004 and under the new law RA 9003, the site is being managed by the City and by private contractors.


We were received by engineer Louie and a driver took us up the old dump site. You can see the trash behind the driver in this first picture. From this "mountain" you can view the new dump site right accross. Bulldozers on the right are shaping the mountain. Trucks to the left are returning from the dump. And on top of the mountain, about 300 scavengers are there to sort through trash as it arrives. Most of the 2,500 scanvengers who work at Payatas live in the surrounding area called "The Promised Land," because land was promised to about 10,000 squatters that continue to live illegally.

At Payatas, they derive energy from methane gases with a small engine that can generate about 100kw/day. If they receive the anticipated carbon credits from Kyoto's clean development mechanism, they should be able to pay for new technology that would generate 1 to 4 mega watts per day.

Payatas just won an award for using Vetiver grass on the old dump site first to hold the mountain together and help stablize the mass (Vetiver roots go down about 2-3m), but also because the grass absorbs leachate and heavy metals. Here you can see the informal sector growing behind the Vetiver grass.

There is a small composting facility but it is not used regularly. Most of the people living around Payatas use organic waste to feed their pigs. Here you can see them processing branches from the Typhoon that hit Manila last Thursday.

On the site there is friendly signage, branded t-shirts, flowers planted in driveways... there is an effort to welcome visitors, give tours, present information in a way that makes the whole thing seem more honorable, in a way, more organized and presentable.

Although children are not allowed inside the dumpsite as scavengers and sorters, the area around the landfill is a big community of MRFs and homes. It's a usual day with someone getting a hair cut, a truck being packed with PET bottles, girls playing hop scotch...

My first Typhoon: Milenyo

Last Thursday between 12-2pm, a Typhoon whipped through Manila at the speed of 280kph. Carlos and I go for a drive around 2pm.... trees are down everywhere. We must have counted ar least 50 trees down in our neighborhood alone. In the middle of all this Carlos and I find the most anazing Italian restaurant, Cafe Milano, that is running on its own generator and makes the most amazing pasta... so chilled white while we watch the rain pour and pour, c'est pas mal la vie quand meme.

We drove to Makati a bit later to pick up Tessa, Carlos' wife, and saw hundreds more. Billboards were also the biggest victims. Those ugly and unruly structures were down everywhere, and most notably the Pancake House billboard on EDSA had cushed a yellow bus.

Thursday night, we had a small party at the house: wine, neighbors and candle light. By Friday I had had enough of living with no power and no water so I became part of the Malate refugees and went to Anita's house in Makati. In fact she is the only person I know with power and water, so there were many of us taking turns at showers and internet.

It's Monday and everything seems back to normal....except for all the massive trees in the streets. It's suddenly a jungle in Manila. Take a look at this tree and the size of its trunk.