Using civic engagement to create a #WorldWithoutWaste

Since May 2019, Evident has been working with Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the Philippines, for the local implementation of their World Without Waste (WWW) initiative. WWW is the company’s global initiative to collect and recycle the equivalent of all the bottles and cans they produce world-wide by 2030. Under this is the WWW Communities Project, which ensures that communities with CCBPI plants in properly observe the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law of 2001 (Republic Act 9003). This will eventually help the company collect and recycle bottles and cans across the country.

The WWW Communities Project was piloted in two areas with local CCBPI plants—Barangay Mansilingan in Bacolod City and Barangay Ungka II in Pavia, Iloilo.

At the get-go, we were faced with a lot of challenges. The most important one was that we had to influence residents’ mindsets and behavior in waste management. The communities did not segregate at source—a key factor for an effective barangay solid waste management plan (BSWMP). We needed to inculcate a sense of proper solid waste management and put systems in place to encourage behavior change.

Most companies that engage communities in sustainability initiatives already have something in mind. They would go to a community, build a facility, conduct training, then leave. We made sure that this project would not go down the same path.

Instead, we utilized a grassroots approach to development intervention. We started by getting ideas from the LGU, barangay officials, and residents on how we would go about the project, securing their ownership of the initiative.

We started with a series of workshops in June and July 2019. Aside from teaching officials and residents the basics of solid waste management, we asked them to provide insights on what their barangay solid waste management plan should look like. Using the 4Es Framework (Education, Engineering, Enforcement, Economics), which the team developed, we developed insights on which stakeholders to engage with, what programs and messaging would work for the communities, and what our next steps would be.

In graduate school, one of my favorite development program approaches was the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) framework. This is based on the premise that “communities can drive the development process themselves by identifying and mobilizing existing, but often unrecognized assets.”

What we did in the WWW Communities initiative is a modified version of such an approach. We provided technical expertise and guidance to the community but it was the barangay that mobilized residents to participate in our workshops and consultations. It was the barangay that provided volunteers for our house-to-house campaign. It was the community leaders who ideated the details of their solid waste management plans.

Organizations should turn their backs to the practice of telling communities what they need or giving them what we think they need. Instead, they should secure our communities’ support and harness their ideas on how programs can be implemented. What I recommend is a two-pronged approach: positively engage with both the local leaders and the community members.

Getting local government support—whether from the city, municipal, or barangay level—is also one way of minimizing costs. LGUs can use existing assets in communities to supplement our initiatives, or support small portions of our engagements. Overall, engaging with local governments is more cost effective.