Solid Waste Management Practices of Households in the University of Eastern Philippines

Abstract

The University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) campus is located 3 kilometers east of the capital towm of Catarman and occupies an area of 419 hectares. A total of 63.8 hectares is its residential area, where its faculty, employees & students mostly reside with an estimated population of 7,000. Considered  a University town, it consists  of three distinct barangays, namely:  Barangay Zone I, Zone II, and Zone III.  The population in the university campus is growing and it does not have a sanitary landfill to dispose the garbage properly.  Thus, residents has to resort to dumping their wastes in an open dumpsite, which is located in Catarman, Northren Samar.

The current situation of the solid waste management system in the three barangays of the University of Eastern Philippines is at a critical stage.  At present, available equipment is not enough to collect all the wastes from the source to the disposal sites.  There are areas where the garbage trucks cannot be accessed and the waste materials are merely dumped, spread, and left exposed to the environment.  The main problem in solid waste management in the three barangays of the University of Eastern Philippines is the lack of ample attention posed by the local government in addressing the waste management problem.  The study  presented the solid waste management practices of households in the University of Eastern Philippines and identified the problems and solutions  related to solid waste management.