Orienting Oneself To Environmentally Sustainable Work Standards

Philippines experiences about 22 typhoons every year – which is why it is also considered as the Typhoon Gateway of the Pacific Northwest.

But these past few years, the loss and damage the Philippines suffered has escalated due to the increasing intensity of calamities– from Typhoon Haiyan, one of the world’s strongest typhoons, and its 6.5-meter high storm surge that hit Tacloban, to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol, destroying some parts of the famous tourist attraction, Chocolate Hills.

Why is this happening to the Philippines? For this unit, we will discuss climate change and its relation to the worsening intensity of typhoons and other environmental hazards.

As a part of its responsibility, the government passed several environmental laws that will protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful environment.

These environmental laws shall promote and protect the environment to attain sustainable development. Along with this is the creation of necessary environmental bureaus tasked to implement and regulate these environmental laws.

In this unit we will discuss the different types of pollution, solid waste management, wastewater management and waste segregation.

After discussing the different environmental pollution control and Philippines' major environmental laws, we will now proceed to the discussion of several waste management techniques and procedures used in minimizing wastage - particularly in the workplace.

According to the Waste Minimization Manual of the Development Bank of the Philippines, waste minimization has not fully materialized in the Philippines until the late 1980s. It is not until 1990s that the environmental laws incorporated or promoted waste minimization.

Waste minimization refers to the methods or practices that minimize or eliminate the number and the toxicity of wastes . Several waste management techniques and principles were developed to reduce and/or eliminate waste such as 5S of good housekeeping, 6Rs of waste management, etc.