People collect trash in 2025 along a polluted shore as part of a coastal cleanup in Navotas, a city near Manila. Community trash pickup is part of a self-government movement in some urban neighborhoods of the Philippines.

The future of democracy is in the trash.

And that might be a very good thing.

The essence of democracy is not elections — which tend to produce oligarchs and conflict — but, rather, self-government to solve community problems. And refuse, in all its forms, is now inspiring some of the most significant innovations in democratic governance around the world.

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Indeed, there may be no greater democratic platform than waste management for boosting community problem-solving, deliberation, civic technology, and engagement between regular people and their governments.

Waste self-government might be strongest in the barangays, or urban neighborhoods of the Philippines. You can see one award-winning, democratic approach to trash in Lipa, 90 minutes south of Manila.

A decade ago, Lipa was notorious for trash in streets, lots and landscapes. National health authorities cited the general filth as a contributor to the city’s relatively high rates of dengue fever.

Lipa had expensive contracts with a third-party, private waste company, which couldn’t keep up with the trash. City officials noticed that rural communities in the area, which handled their own trash pickup in informal networks, were often cleaner.

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