Alexandra Condominium residents were used to an institutional waste management system. Like a typical condominium building, they have a regimented and expensive garbage collection system and a sophisticated sanitary laws. All the 11 buildings are provided with common garbage chutes.

However, when the Payatas and San Mateo landfills were closed, the system suddenly went haywire. It did not matter how much they were willing to pay, they still could not find anyone to collect their garbage. Bags of refuse were left uncollected for weeks. The pile of trash bags in the utility area and the stench along with the swarm of flies could no longer be ignored. They were, therefore, forced to consider other ways of dealing with their garbage.

The possibility of decreasing the volume of wastes through segregation, recycling, and composting was first introduced by one of the homeowners. Segregation of wastes was readily accepted, but the idea of "working with maggots" was met with resistance. However, once the process and the benefits were painstakingly explained, the residents agreed to give it a try.

Lectures on segregation and composting were given to all the homeowners and/or their representatives. These were followed by demonstrations on composting. The residents were realistic enough to decide that they could only handle the composting of kitchen wastes.

The wastes generated by Alexandra residents used to require the garbage truck to come daily. Now that they have reduced wastes to a considerable volume, the garbage truck comes only four times a week. This has reduced the association’s expenses for hauling the garbage which they were paying P2,000.00/truck/day, a saving of P6,000.00 a week for the homeowners. They also have generated an amount from the recyclable wastes sold which afforded them to give the homeowners composting clay pots for free.

The "processed soil" are now being used in their flower and vegetable gardens on their terraces. Some are used as soil conditioner for the vegetable gardens at the rooftop, and some are ‘donated’ to the gardens at the Alexandra grounds.

At present, each building has its own ‘building champions’ who help the management in conducting seminars on waste management and in encouraging other unit owners to attend and practice proper waste management.

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