Socio-Demographic Profile of Scavenging Households in Umapad Dumpsite, Mandaue City Cebu, Philippines

Scavengers being informal settlers are often not provided by the government with basic services. Furthermore, they are often exposed to occupational safety and health hazard and yet they to continue to rely on wastepicking as their major source of income. Upon the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003) by the city government of Mandaue, this significantly lowered the income of the scavengers by 62.34%. This indicates a conflict of interest between the scavengers and the implementing body. Hence, a comprehensive environmental and socio-economic policy should be planned to identify the needs of the scavengers and address the interest of both parties.