For part 1:
WHILE many Dabawenyos consider food waste “harmless” and think it can be discarded anywhere, experts warn that improper food waste disposal has far-reaching consequences — affecting not only human health but also animal health and the environment.
Olive Puentespina, CEO of Davao Thermo Biotech Corporation, a company specializing in circular biodegradable waste management using composting technology with the help of bacteria to convert waste into natural fertilizer, emphasized that proper management of food waste is also a form of disease prevention.
“Since we add food waste daily because we eat every day, we also generate it daily. Eventually, if you don’t take care of it, you will be overwhelmed, mapupuno ka ng basura (you’ll be overwhelmed with garbage). You’ll attract flies, maggots, mosquitoes, rodents, cockroaches, and all sorts of creepy crawlies,” she said.
These animals, known in the medical field as disease carriers or vectors, play a key role in spreading infectious diseases.
Dr. Michael “Mike” Jamiana, medical director of Brokenshire Medical Center, explained that such animals have long been proven to transmit illnesses and perpetuate a cycle of disease.
“Pag marumi ang paligid, like for example dahil sa food scrap, tapos dumapo yung langaw doon, kung unsang bacteria ang naa didto sa basura, like for example Salmonella, pagbalhin sa langaw sa pagkaon nga gikaon sa bata, then yung bata nagbawas sa labas, at nadapuan na naman ng ibang langaw na dumapo na naman sa pagkain, yun na, may cycle of Salmonella-causing diseases na,” Dr. Jamiana said.
(If the surroundings are dirty — for instance, because of food scraps — and a fly lands there, whatever bacteria are present in the garbage, like Salmonella, can be carried by the fly. When it lands on food eaten by a child, and later the child defecates outdoors, other flies can land on the feces and then again on food. That’s how the cycle of Salmonella-causing diseases begins.)
He added that this is just one example of illnesses caused by animal-borne diseases.
“We can also get diseases from rodents, like ilaga (rats). Leptospirosis is one of the examples of diseases we could get from rats,” he said.
Economic impact on households
This cycle of diseases significantly affects a family’s economy due to hospitalization and medical expenses.
A study conducted in Metro Manila by Joseph Arbiol et al., titled “Valuing Human Leptospirosis Prevention,” revealed that leptospirosis outbreaks — common after floods — lead to substantial household treatment costs and productivity losses. This highlights the importance of disease prevention to minimize economic burdens on affected families.
Similarly, a global study by Suneth Agampodi reaffirmed that leptospirosis causes “significant productivity losses and direct medical costs,” disproportionately affecting low-income households.
The World Bank’s report, “Economic Impacts of Poor Sanitation in the Philippines,” also found that illnesses caused by poor waste management result in lost productivity and household expenses estimated at US$1.4 billion annually.
Challenges in proper waste disposal
Despite these findings, proper waste segregation and disposal remain major challenges. According to Puentespina, educating communities about waste management is not an easy task, especially without sufficient government support.
She said that their company assists the Davao City local government in implementing City Ordinance No. 0361-10, or the Davao City Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance, by accepting invitations to conduct talks, seminars, and workshops on proper segregation, disposal, and composting of food waste.
Puentespina admitted, however, that composting — although not a new concept — remains “unpopular” among many residents, as it is often perceived as laborious.
The Yellow Drum Project and other initiatives
To address this, Davao Thermo Biotech introduced the Yellow Drum Project.
“We have this project called the ‘Yellow Drum Project,’ where we provide yellow drums to communities or establishments open to the idea of composting food scraps or food waste. These drums are where households can place their ‘lamaw’ or spoiled leftovers,” she explained.
Puentespina said their team visits these drums regularly — either daily or every other day, depending on how quickly they fill up — to collect the contents for composting, turning them into organic fertilizer.
Meanwhile, Brokenshire Medical Center, in compliance with the city’s Solid Waste Management Ordinance, built a man-made pit to contain food waste — an initiative aimed at reducing food scraps sent to the city landfill.
"Labi na tong time nga nagtaas ang kaso sa ASF (African Swine Fever) in 2016 yata, so girequire sa city government nga ang mga lamaw, dili ipanghatag ug ipangkaon sa mga baboy para dili mangadaut ang mga piggeries, that was why the hospital dug a pit to contain our food waste (Especially during the time when cases of ASF increased, I think that was in 2016, the city government required that food scraps should not be given or fed to pigs to prevent damage to pig farms. That’s why the hospital dug a pit to contain our food waste),” Virginia Ponce, Infection Prevention and Control nurse, said.
A shared responsibility
Puentespina emphasized that initiatives to reduce waste — whether biodegradable or not — should be part of everyone’s daily consciousness.
“Proper waste management benefits not only us but also the Earth,” she said. “Its health affects every aspect of human life.”
(Writer’s note: Next will be the relationship of food waste to animal health with experts’ insights)