Analyn I. Diola, M.Sc.

Ph.D. in Science Education

 Mangaldan National High School is located
at P. de Guzman St., Mangaldan,
Pangasinan. It has 7,851 students from Grade
7 to Grade 12 making it the largest high
school in the region. It has almost 400
teaching and non-teaching staff. It offers 5
programs in the Junior High School and 8
Tracks in the Senior High School. There are 10
departments.
 It is known for its university-like campus adored
by its buildings and landscape. With this, it is
very important to maintain the cleanliness
and aesthetics of the campus. Solid waste
management is one of the crucial tasks of the
school administrations.
 Legal Bases
RA 9003: Solid Waste Management Act Implementing
Rules and Regulations, Part 6, Rule 21, Section 2
enjoins the DepEd to aggressively incorporate
ecological waste management in the school systems
at all levels, emphasizing on the involvement of school
administrators, teaching and non-teaching staff, and
students in school wide and nearby community waste
management action. Every school shall practice
waste management principles, such as minimization,
specifically resources conservation and recovery,
segregation at source, reduction, recycling, reuse
and composting, in order to promote environmental
awareness and action among the students.
 With this, the study shall describe and
understand the perception ad experiences of
School Administrators towards management
of solid waste at Mangaldan National High
School.
 The main research question is, “What is
the perception and experiences of the
School Administrators of Mangaldan
National towards solid waste
management?”
The study sought to answer the following specific questions:
 1. Are the School Administrators aware of the bulk of solid
waste generated in the school?
 2. How do School Administrators encourage the reduction
of waste?
 3. What are the existing solid waste management practices
in the school? Are these in compliance with RA 9512 and
RA 9003?
 4. What are their experiences regarding solid waste?
 5. What are the policies and programs existed in the school
and statuses of each?
 6. What are their perceptions on whose responsibility is
managing the solid waste?
 7. Are there future plans of collaborating with the Local
Government Unit (LGU)?
 Research Design
 This research is a Narrative Study with the
purpose of describing and understanding the
essence of perspective and experiences of
the department heads and principal in
managing the solid waste. Narrative methods
can be considered “real world measures”
that are appropriate when “real life
problems” are investigated.
 Participants & Research Site
 The participants of this study are the School
Administrators which refers to Department
Heads of Senior High, Science, English,
Filipino, Values Education, MAPEH, TLE-
Agro/Industrial, TLE- HE and Social Studies and
the Principal.
 This research was conducted at Mangaldan
National High School located at P. de
Guzman St., Mangaldan, Pangasinan.
 Instrumentation & Data Collection
 This study used observation and interview.
Purposive/ opportunistic sampling was used in
this study since the target participants are the
Department Heads and the Principal. Prior to
this study a survey was already conducted
among the students.
 An interview guide was prepared before the
scheduled interviews.
 Analysis of Data
 Narrative description was applied to recount
conditions pertaining to solid waste
management of the school.
 Verbatim transcription was used to interpret
the results of the study.
1. Waste Generated of the Seven Thousand (7,000)
All respondents agreed that the School is generating
a significant amount of waste. One of them estimated
around 14,000 waste materials per day since there
are two (2) snack breaks and a lunch break. Other
estimates are:

“Equivalent to one (1) track load (estimate)…”

“Ten (10) sacks of solid waste and four (4) of which is coming
from the Senior High School Department”
“Tons of solid wastes are collected each day”
“Base on information provided by the janitors, five (5) to nine
(9) trolleys is collected in their area each day, which means we
generate 45-63 trolleys of trashes each day…”
2. Encourage and educate to make less

According the Department Head of Values

Education, “Yes, I encourage solid waste reduction
by educating and encouraging our students to recycle.”

Another participant said that the wastes

disposed are reduced by the janitors by
separating the plastic bottles to be sold.
3. Bring your own
Students were once encouraged to bring
their own food containers and utensils but it
did not last long.
“Actually, I had proposed solid waste reduction in one
of our meetings. I suggested that every student should
bring his/her glass/ cup, to use for drinks purchases.
For sure, this will minimize the use of plastic glasses,
cellophanes and straws in the canteens and stores and
eventually lessens trashes. But I was opposed.”
4. #Discipline #Attitude #Values
Responses of the Principal and Department Heads are
in unison that…
“First thing, you should do now is to discipline all students”
“Some students are undisciplined because when they see the
trash can with designation; red, green and yellow, they still don’t
use them properly”
“The Administration must focus on discipline of the students.”
“Let’s check over values and attitudes towards littering”
“Students need to be reminded often in proper waste
management”
“’Walang pakialam’ attitude makes the SWM programs a big
failure”
5. The Sad Principal
“Malungkot ako, malungkot kasi araw-araw na lang na
ganun, na hindi nababawasan ‘yong basura natin.
Samantalang mayroon naming ng batas tungkol sa
pagkumpuni ng ating kalikasan pero ganun pa rin
kinakalabasan”

(I am sad, sad because on each day is almost

same, the amount of waste in not reduced. There
are laws and policies on taking care of our
environment but it seems that it has same results)
6. Principal’s Plea
“ kung mangyari sana, magkaroon ng disiplina ang
mga estudyante”
(Hopefully, the students could be disciplined)
“Gusto ko sana, ‘yong basura natin ay magawan ng
paraan na mapagkakitaan. As much as possible, wala
ng plastic na makikita”
(Hopefully, there could be a solution for our
solid waste generation. As much as possible,
there will be NO plastics being seen.)
7. The Janitors are In-charge
“The assigned janitors collect the waste”
“They separate the recyclables to be sold before
disposal”
“Students are instructed to throw their trashes in trash
bins. Janitors then collect the trashes every afternoon
or as need. Some of them take the chance to separate
those that can be sold as junk such as plastic bottles,
cups, paper, iron and others accepted by the
junkshops.”
8. The School has a lot of space, manage our
own
“Janitors dispose the trashes inside a large pit at the
back of the school. Before, the LGU helped in the
disposal of garbage. The garbage truck of the
municipality collect the school’s trashes twice a week
but with the closure of the dumpsite in Banaoang, the
school has no other means but to manage its own.”
9. Not a good steward

“No involvement in the waste management program

means that you are not a good steward”
10. Changes in leadership, change in approach

During the time of Dr. Rizalino Agpalo, sacks are provided in the
classrooms for collection of solid waste. The teacher in charge of
the room shall manage the waste. During the time of Dr.
Rebecca Cansino, the waste collect the waste every 10AM at
the gate but since the municipality lack budget and the
municipal dumpsite was closed; the collection was stopped.
Later, she advised that are trash bins shall be removed and the
students shall bring home their waste. The teacher in charge of
the room shall take home the waste in the classroom. With this,
littering became rampant in the campus.
Currently, Dr. Leo Blaquir assigned the janitors to collect the
waste from the classrooms. Three colored bins were installed by
the Supreme Student Government (SSG) in conspicuous places in
the campus. Waste are dumped in the large pit at the back of
the school.
11. Short-period Policies and Programs

“Basura mo, ibulsa mo pansamantala”

“No Plastic Policy”
“Pera sa basura”
12. #Accountability #Liability #Responsibility
As point of view of a Department Head, solid
waste management is everyone’s responsibility.
According to her…
“With my number of years in the school, my experiences in
the area are too numerous to mention. But they end up to
the truth that proper solid waste management is everyone’s
responsibility. It is an endeavor that the total school
population should undertake. No need of pinpointing who is
to accountable and liable. Everyone has to take the blame
for the work undone and for the consequences it brings.”
12. #Accountability #Liability #Responsibility

One of the newly installed Department Heads said…

“Its everybody concern because we are all consumers of the things on earth”

Another Department Head closed the interview with this message…

“We cannot stop (improper) waste disposal if we do not have the right
discipline. So everybody must have proper discipline. Everybody must
cooperate, from the Administration down to the teachers, staff (especially
janitors), vendors (and stall owners), student leaders and students, all the way
to the classroom. Lahat responsibility natin ito (It’s everybody’s responsibility.)
The message is once and for all, let’s join together, let’s have the common
objectives to dispose our waste products orderly, properly, accordingly and
let’s do the segregation and everything will materialize.”
13. Future Plans of the New Principal and the
Department Heads
The following are the plans of the principal and
department heads:

 Trash bins for segregated disposal

 Compost pit
 Gilingan (shredder) of waste and other
technologies
 Organic fertilizer production
 Linkage and collaboration with Local
Government Unit (LGU)
 Operational Material Recovery Facility (MRF)
According to Consulting Services for Solid
Waste Management within Project Micropolis
in Metro Manila (2007), a strong leadership is
crucial and without it no positive changes will
succeed. With this, this study sought to
describe and understand the perspective of
the school administrators on solid waste
management.
 Based on the calculations of the National Solid Waste
Status Report, average per capita solid waste
generation in the Philippines is 0.40kg. With this, the
7,851 students of the Mangaldan National High
School are generating 3,140kg of solid waste per
day. This is possible since it is observed that
packaging materials for snacks and lunches are single
use plastic bags, straws, plastic cups and disposable
spoons and forks. Waste reduction is encouraged but
not significantly observed among students. There
were proposals to bring their own utensils but was
opposed which may imply that the school
administrators are not in agreement with this matter.
 Currently, littering is observed among students and
this is a violation to Chapter 6 Section 48 of the
Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. There are
designated waste bins for biodegradable, non-
biodegradable and recyclables but not properly used
by some students. Mixed wastes are observed inside
the waste bins. The janitors are in-charge of
collecting the solid wastes. They are separating the
plastic bottles for additional income. With this,
operation of Material Recovery Facility or sorting
facility and composting facility are possible. The
residuals are dumped in an open pit at the back of
the school which means, the school is in violation with
Chapter 6 Section 48 of the Ecological Solid Waste
Management Act.
All the school administrators are in agreement
that solid waste management is a shared
responsibility which needs political will and
commitment among them and values
transformation and discipline among the
students. With this, the future plans of waste
reduction, strict segregation, operating a
material recovery and composting facilities
and linkage with the LGU to take care of the
residuals are all doable and feasible.
 This study implies the status of solid waste
management of Mangaldan National High
School, as the result from the participants’
cooperation. It is concluded that solid waste
has been a problem of the school. With 7,851
students plus teaching and non-teaching
staff, everyone is contributing in the
generation of approximately 3,140kg of solid
waste each day.
 The responsive teachers and school
administrators, tend to encourage and
educate students to reduce waste in the
school through recycling and bringing home
their trash. It was determined that proper
attitude and discipline among students is
needed to act on the problem. Discipline of
students is the plea of the new school
principal.
 Problem in solid waste is not new anymore; it
happens every day and has lead to long-
term problem of the school. It is crucial since it
affects the credibility of the school and for the
health of the students and other stakeholders.
Credibility since the school is an institution
which must teach and entail compliance with
the law and good stewardship in the
environment.
 There are existing good practices in the school
such as reduction, segregation and recycling but
these efforts are insignificant and most of the time
not sustained. There are installed trash bins
labeled as biodegradable, non-biodegradable
and recyclable. But these are not properly used
by the students. Problems with unawareness and
laziness of the students to segregate and dispose
their trash properly are some of the reasons.
Compliance to existing policies and programs is
one of the things being wished for by the school
principal.
 The school administrators agree the problem
in solid waste is everybody’s responsibility. The
student which generate the largest
percentage of solid waste must be educated,
encouraged and reprimand to comply with
good solid waste management practices.
Teachers and non-teaching staff must set a
good example.
 There is no existing collaboration with the
Local Government Unit (LGU) since the
municipal dumpsite was closed. The school
was compelled to manage its own solid
waste. But there are plans in the future to
collaborate with the LGU.
 Finally, it is concludes that the school may
comply with the provisions of Chapter 6,
Section 48 of the Ecological Solid Waste
Management Act. Let’s just be realistic and
accept that positive changes will take time.
Small steps may take us somewhere.
“If you can make it here, You can make it anywhere.”