Hi fellow readers! Welcome back as we embark on this week’s journey – exploring the positives of pollution! Yes, you read that right, there are some (supposed) ‘positives’ to pollution 😀

Pollution From Consumerism

However, let us first address the pain points of consumerism. Consumerism, which has grown – and is growing – at an unprecedented pace, has produced mountains of waste abandoned at landfills and open spaces. According to the World Bank, currently, 1.3 billion tonnes of municipal waste is generated globally every year and this is expected to increase to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025 (Mamidipudi, 2018). But why so? Well, consumption is often synonymous with economic prosperity as it is both a symbol and driver of growth experienced by countries (Mamidipudi, 2018). As such, it’s in essence and nature an expression of social mobility – higher disposable incomes could incite the increasing consumption of material goods (Kaynak, 1985).

Despite these negative environmental implications, there are some ‘positives’ that have emerged from the landfills, specifically, it has helped sustain the informal economies that are present in countries across the world. For a better illustration of the informal waste collection economy, let us travel to the Philippines to catch a glimpse of the daily lives of the local communities living near the landfills.

Case Study: Payatas, Quezon City, Philippines

What pops up in your mind when the scavenging community is mentioned in the Philippines? Is it the infamous ‘Smokey Mountain’ landfill? Me too! The landfill had come to represent poverty in the Philippines for decades since the 1980s, but was officially closed in 1995 by the government to convert the land into a low-cost housing development and industrial zone (Gonzales, 2003). The closure of Smokey Mountain threatened to deprive scavengers and the local communities of their only source of livelihood.  Unsurprisingly, a year before the closure, they were already following the rerouted garbage trucks more than 20 kilometers away to what is now the largest dumpsite in the country – Payatas in Quezon City.

To these local communities of over 8,000 families, the landfill does not symbolise poverty, but rather, they perceive it to be an asset.

Payatas Landfill

Payatas is the country’s largest open dumpsite, occupying 20 hectares of land in Quezon City (Gonzales, 2003). The dump started operations in the early 1970s, and despite its lack of the liners and piping systems required of sanitary landfills, it receives around 1,200 tons of trash per day. Roughly, 6,000 waste-pickers make or supplement their livings by combing through this mountain of garbage for materials such as newspaper, plastic bottles and caps, and scrap metal, amongst many other recyclables (Gonzales, 2003), as seen from the image below. Pye-Smith (1997) estimates that on a good day, the local communities are able to earn 100 pesos (US$2.07), at times even double the amount – which is more than the statutory minimum wage for day-labourers in the Philippines. The comparatively lucrative nature of scavenging could attest for the intergenerational continuation of these informal economic activities.

Additionally, day-tours organised by non-profit organisations to the local slums and markets greatly supplement the income of the communities. For one, ‘Smokey Tours’, a local tour operator based in Manila recruits its tour leaders from underprivileged communities, through which these leaders receive the entirety of revenues earned. The price of the tours ranges from US$80 to US$177, depending on the size of the group (Smokey Tours, n.d.). Additionally, 100% of the proceeds earned are reinvested in the local communities to better their living conditions (Smokey Tours, n.d.). The organisation aims to bridge the gap between people from different socioeconomic backgrounds while empowering the local communities through training and financial assistance. 

That being said. scavenging and its related activities do not come without risks.  

For one, waste in the Payatas landfills are often incinerated free up space for incoming dump trucks. However, these toxic fumes and particulate matter emanating from the burning piles of waste have resulted in the deaths of thousands of scavengers (Gonzales, 2003). This situation is amplified by the constant spontaneous combustion of the varied household and industrial wastes buried in the landfills (Pye-Smith, 1997), posing significant risks to the communities living near the sites.

Impacts of Polybrominated diphenyl ethers on Humans

Moreover, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are ubiquitous in the local environment, as a consequence of their use as flame retardants in many of the consumer products strewed across the landfills. Kwan et al. (2012) posits that technical PBDE products are additives in many polymers and resins used in the manufacture of electronic (E&E) parts, textile coatings, paints, packaging materials, amongst many others resulting in their prevalence in landfill communities. As PBDEs are not chemically bound to the material to which they have been added, they can be released into the environment during usage and disposal in landfills or dumping sites through leaching (Kwan et al., 2012).

Research conducted by McDonald (2002) revealed that the chemical structure of PBDEs closely resembles that of thyroid hormones and binds with close affinity to the thyroid hormone transport protein transthyretin. disrupting thyroid hormone balance and thus the body’s metabolic processes. This could lead to the growth of benign and malignant tumours surrounding the thyroid gland which may require removal. Additionally, the bioaccumulation and biomagnification of PBDEs has the potential to result in neurobehavioural effects such as deteriorating motor behaviors and deficits in brain development which could intensify with age (McDonald, 2002).

Diamonds in the Rough

Despite being a source of income for the local communities, it is apparent that environmental threats and health implications are inseparable from the economic benefits. Local communities are adapting to their changing environments and collaborating with non-profit organisations to empower themselves and evoke change. Apart from these organic bottom-up initiatives, institutional frameworks should also be enacted to provide better living conditions for these affected communities while assisting with resources for alternative employment. 

Additionally, although poverty has been cited as the main reason for scavenging, it is also important to consider the root cause of ‘poverty’. As Pye-Smith (1997) aptly mentions, poverty in the Philippines has ‘little to do with the lack of natural resources’ as the country is rich in minerals, timber supplies, fertile farmland, and coastal waters. Therefore, poverty might be attributed to the ways in which these resources are distributed due to political and social agendas.

The experiences of the scavenging communities in Payatas thus sheds light on the linkages that exist between the political and environmental disciplines in Geography, in that the unfair distribution of resources could alienate marginalised populations to peripheries that are plagued by pollution.

 

References: 

Gonzales, E. M. (2003). From Waste to Assets: The Scavengers of Payatas. International Conference on Natural Assets. Available from: https://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/conference_papers/CDP7.pdf [Accessed 14 September 2020]

Kaynak, E. (1985). Some Thoughts On Consumerism In Developed And Less Developed Countries. International Marketing Review. 2(2). 15-30. Available from: doi: 10.1108/eb008273

Kwan et al., (2012). PBDEs in leachates from municipal solid waste dumping sites in tropical Asian countries: phase distribution and debromination. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 20, 4188-4204. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/10.1007/s11356-012-1365-3 [Accessed 16 September 2020]

Mamidipudi, A. (2018). The bane of consumerism. Down To Earth. Available from: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/the-bane-of-consumerism-61460#:~:text=Consumerism%2C%20which%20has%20grown%20at,2.2%20billion%20tonnes%20by%202025 [Accessed 14 September 2020]

Pye-Smith, C. (1997). Introduction, in Pye-Smith, C. (ed.), The Philippines: in Search of Justice. Oxfam, UK. Available from  https://books.google.com.sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kSKlqr0QcXgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=smoky+mountain+philippines+pollution&ots=YnmyECho7U&sig=KlE4ZnP2exokahuEOnW7wtm-dWE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=smoky%20mountain%20philippines%20pollution&f=false [Accessed 16 September 2020]

Smokey Tours. (n.d.). Slum Tour. Available from: http://www.smokeytours.com/slum-tour-baseco [Accessed 16 September 2020]

Images:

Kodaka, A. (2017). Payatas scavengers squeeze a living from Manila’s waste. Nikkei Asian Review. Available from: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Payatas-scavengers-squeeze-a-living-from-Manila-s-waste [Accessed 16 September 2020]