Success Stories

Bgy. Maligaya, El Nido, Palawan

Coastal dwellers of Bgy. Maligaya get serious about environmental care with regular clean-up duties

Barangay Maligaya in El Nido, Palawan is SCOTIA's model-on the barangay level-of dynamic growth through community empowerment and political will. Encouraged by SCOTIA's technical assistance and buoyant presence, the coastal dwellers involved themselves in identifying problems and drawing up solutions, thereby breeding responsibility and belongingness in their community's progress.

Segregation at source being efficiently practiced in Bgy. Maligaya's waste management program

SCOTIA conducted a number of WACS sessions (Waste Analysis and Characterization Study) with the barangay residents. Their diligent learning and practice of proper segregation measures have borne fruit as residual waste went down to only 35% with the rest being reused or recycled.

SCOTIA assisting capacity building of barangay officials and residents

The barangay officials were and are a tremendous boost to the community's SWM program. A technical working group regularly conducts public hearings, IEC campaigns, and other monitoring measures; reviews and updates ordinances; organizes junkshops; and oversees segregated collection.

Bgy. Maligaya readying itself for a bright future in ecotourism

Buoyed by its successful programs in SWM, Barangay Maligaya has become a model barangay for the municipality of El Nido, conducting segregated waste collection for three other barangays. With the influence of Barangay Maligaya's success story, SCOTIA assisted the El Nido local government unit in drawing up its own SWM initiatives-WACS and clean-ups in the other barangays, a 10-year SWM Plan, a Municipal SWM Code, an SWM Board, and fund allocation for SWM purposes.

SWM Training and Workshops

For the numerous stakeholders whom SCOTIA trained and assisted in solid waste management (SWM), what began as compliance to a government directive became a success story in most of the participating communities. As seen in the WACS Comparison Chart below, drastic reduction in waste volume at an average of over 50% was the overwhelming result of the communities' SWM efforts. With SCOTIA's assistance in setting up these systems (see STRATEGIES), the stakeholders found solutions which were workable and sustainable for their nagging waste problems.

A comparison chart of first WACS session and second shows successful waste reduction levels

Abaka, Women's Organization in Moalboal, Cebu

SCOTIA coordinator and volunteers ending another WACS session with Moalboal community

SCOTIA's SWM programs in all of the six coastal sites involved composting for biodegradable wastes after segregation. In Bgy. Basdiot in Moalboal, composting as a useful waste by-product became an eye opener for the womenfolk to the many other activities they could do for their community's environment. Thus was formed Ang Babaye ug ang Kalikupuan Asosasyon (ABAKA) or "Women for the Environment Association." In their desire to maximize the learning and empowerment they could gain from SCOTIA, the ABAKA women became SCOTIA's partner in almost all its activities in Moalboal.

SCOTIA initiatives being well-received by ABAKA women's group in Moalboal, Cebu

ABAKA's emergence as a dynamic community leader developed within months from its formation. After conducting training modules in leadership, accounting system, and other organizational skills, SCOTIA helped the Basdiot women accomplish coastal clean-up, street beautification, IEC campaigns for SWM, and other activities in quick succession. In a year's time ABAKA fulfilled its one-year action plan. Its WACS training produced drastic decreases in Basdiot's waste volume; from here the women introduced WACS to their neighbors in eight coastal barangays. They also successfully trained the young students of the community as active participants in the programs. ABAKA was the first organization in the whole province of Cebu to introduce the Ecosan toilet for its SMS program.

ABAKA women passing on training to student groups in Moalboal

SCOTIA facilitated the formation of the Environmental Society of Moalboal (ESM) with a MOA between the LGU and the non-government stakeholders such as the divers' association, the business and tourism association, the ABAKA women, and the fisherfolk. For SCOTIA's objectives, this proactive move among the primary stakeholders themselves reinforced the alliance-building component of sustainability and defined ABAKA's wide-ranged role for Moalboal beyond the barangay level. The women assumed functions like consolidating the collectors / buyers of recyclables from the controlled dumpsite and management of the composting operations for biodegradable waste on the municipal level. The women applied with SCOTIA's Grant Activity Fund (GAF) to partially finance its composting infrastructure, technology training, and the community's capacity building for operation and maintenance. As its counterpart, the LGU pledged financial and supervisory support to ABAKA.

Bohol Divers Resort, Panglao, Bohol

In Panglao, Bohol, the Bohol Divers Resort (BDR) contributed significantly to the private sector's critical role in the SCOTIA advocacy. A key factor was the committed leadership of Mrs. Paz Trotin, BDR owner and a dedicated partner of SCOTIA in its project objectives. From the time SCOTIA initiated its projects in Bohol, Mrs. Trotin was very keen on imbibing new technology to improve her resort management and do her share for the advocacy. Since she was quick to apply SCOTIA's recommendations, the resort operations also benefited immediately from her efforts.

In 2005 SCOTIA conducted an assessment of BDR's existing practices, followed by CP training and WACS. It was clear to management and staff that their operational procedures were wasteful of energy and resources. With SCOTIA's recommendations and technical assistance, BDR instituted environment-friendly measures in its operations. In less than a year's time, it reaped a good number of improvements like a decrease of 5 trucks per week in its water supply delivery and 12% savings in its electric bill. The resort management made it a point to train all its employees on the new measures and introduced an incentives scheme for them to give full attention to the program.

Early in 2006, BDR started construction of a centralized three-chambered septic tank several meters away from the entrance of the resort. The resort plans to use the effluent coming from the third chamber to irrigate the plants inside the resort. BDR also constructed a rainwater tank collector to address the water scarcity during summer months. A two-room concrete cubicle for composting is another innovation that management will soon construct with SCOTIA's technical assistance.

The success story of Bohol Divers Resort has influenced neighboring resorts in the area. More and more have started to apply lessons learned from SCOTIA's CP programs and still others are requesting for these very helpful interventions in their operations. BDR's planned composting facility will in fact serve as a pilot project and eventually a demonstration model for the other Panglao resorts. For resorts without available land for composting, the BDR will also be a composting service station.

SWM in Lemery, Batangas and Sanorma, Farmers' Organization

SCOTIA's Solid Waste Management (SWM) program in the municipality of Lemery, Batangas progressed hand in hand with the emergence of a farmers' organization, the Samahan ng Organikong Magsasaka ng Barangay Nonong Casto (SANORMA). Lemery's inadequate SWM practices pollute Balayan Bay. But with the determined political will of the town mayor and the environmental officer and with SCOTIA's assistance, Lemery's SWM program is quickly developing workable and sustainable measures to solve this problem. The LGU's enforcement of a strict "No Segregation, No Collection" policy successfully produced a drastic reduction in the town's waste volume. WACS training and monitoring had the active participation of 24 resorts in the Nonong Casto barangay with some resorts going into composting. SCOTIA helped form SANORMA and trained the farmers in organic farming.

SANORMA's demonstration farms in Nonong Casto produce compost from the town's collected biodegradable waste. Its initial order of 100 bags of compost came from Leisure Farms, a 116-hectare residential / farming development in Batangas. Another project the SANORMA farmers are working on with SCOTIA's help is a composting service for the resorts. The group applied with SCOTIA's Grant Activity Fund (GAF) to purchase an industrial-sized shredder for its composting farm.

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