LIFE AFTER SMOKEY MOUNTAIN

Living conditions are improving for people who once struggled to survive as scavengers in the infamous Smokey Mountain dumpsite in Manila, Philippines.

By Asian Development Bank

June 15^th, 2016

Smokey Mountain, began in the 1950s as an unplanned dumpsite near the slums of Manila‘s Tondo district. For decades, the area was a magnet for poor migrants who eked out a living as scavengers. In the 1980s, the population climbed to 30,000 and the area became an international showcase for urban squalor and misery.

Things as they used to be: children climbing a pile of trash at Smokey Mountain during the 1990s. Photo by Ram Cabrera.

In the 1990s, the government worked to close Smokey Mountain as a dumpsite and by 2001 had moved the informal settlers living in the area into temporary housing. Most of the smoldering 20-hectare dumpsite was bulldozed and five-story blocks were built for residents of the area. But with the dump gone, many lost their main source of income – scavenging.

Most of the smoldering 20-hectare dumpsite was bulldozed and five-story buildings were built for residents of the area.

After the closing of Smokey Mountain, its residents were moved into multi-story housing blocks right beside the mountain of trash.

A bird's eye view of the multi-story housing blocks where former residents of Smokey Mountain were moved.

A resident looks out from a window at the five-hectare mound of what remains of Smokey Mountain.

Recycling Provides Livelihood Opportunities in Manila’s Dump Site

To help residents in the area earn a living, a cooperative was formed. After years of struggling with management and financial problems, the cooperative began to improve in the 2000s. With a grant from the Asian Development Bank’s Poverty and Environment Fund (PEF), the cooperative began to focus on modern recycling as a replacement for scavenging.

The Sambanyan ng Muling Pagkabuhay ni Kristo multi-purpose cooperative's main goals is to create jobs and livelihood opportunities.

Leticia Reyes is a long-time resident of Smokey Mountain and worked as a scavenger at an early age.

Board Chairman Danny Mendoza, a former scavenger, managed to push himself through university under the coop's scholarship program.

The cooperative set up a materials recovery facility (MRF), which was built by residents, and provided training and certification in skills related to recycling. The MRF is run like a proper business, with an eye for generating income. Those working in the facility earn $150 to $225 per month, and work in safe conditions.

A porter carries a “jumbo” bag of waste to a recycling station in Smokey Mountain.

Recycled materials await sorting and delivery at one of the small recycling businesses at Smokey Mountain.

As part of it's Eco-friendly philopsohy, the SMPK's Materials Recovery Facility uses rainwater collection tanks.

A cooperative member cleans discarded plastics by hand using soap and water.

Toto Rivas, who worked on Smokey Mountain’s dumpsite in his teenage years, heads the waste separation team at the MRF. A one-time methamphetamine addict, he has sobered up and now finds fulfillment in his job. “This project should be replicated at other dumpsites,” Toto says. “It helped me personally, and others could benefit from it as I did.”

The cooperative operates a water station that provides clean water to people in the area while employing ten people full-time and as many part-time jobs to locals. Partnered with the cooperative’s water station is its Eco-laundromat Service Center, which uses the former’s waste water to feed its washing machines. Two other laundromat branches operate amidst the housing blocks, with rainwater providing the needed water for their machines. Together these stations provide additional jobs to people from the local community.

Customers await their turn at the cooperative’s water station.

The Eco-laundromat Service Center and water stations provide jobs for people in the community.

The cooperative’s handicraft shop stocks items made from recycled materials. Old magazine pages make up this selection of baskets, trays and a wine bottle holder. These are among the merchandise that helped earn the cooperative US$8,750 in 2012. The following year they joined the prestigious Manila FAME design and lifestyle exhibition, where they unveiled their new designer label, PAPEL (the Filipino word for “paper”).

The cooperative's handicraft shop sell items made from recycled materials.

A Smokey Mountain resident submits a pair of handmade shopping bags to the cooperative's handicraft shop.

Encarnacion Martinez is a designer of handicrafts, which are made from recycled materials and sold by the cooperative.

Life remains difficult for those living on what used to be the Smokey Mountain dumpsite, but the situation has improved since the days the area was considered an international symbol of poverty and despair. Although no longer an open dumpsite, its story is sadly repeated in nearby slums. Poverty remains one of the biggest problems facing the Philippines today. Cooperatives like the Sambanyan ng Muling Pagkabuhay ni Kristo multi-purpose cooperative are essential in improving the lives of the urban poor.

Squatters continue to live atop Smokey Mountain despite health concerns regarding its unsanitary environment.

Footnotes

Photos by Lester Ledesma. Archive photo of Smokey Mountain by Ram Cabrera.

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FootNotes

Photos by Lester Ledesma. Archive photo of Smokey Mountain by Ram Cabrera.