Clearing of road leading to landfill assured

CEBU, Philippines - Landfill Manager Engr. Randy Navarro assured yesterday that the mini dumpsites outside the Inayawan Landfill or along the road leading to the landfill will be cleared out starting today in compliance with the order of the Environment Management Bureau in the region (EMB-7).

Navarro said he has already instructed the recyclers who operate mini Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) outside the landfill to clean up pursuant also to the order of Mayor Michael Rama. He said the piles of garbage along the road are recyclables that recyclers make money from.

Earlier, he admitted that the landfill still gets about 60 percent of the trash that are brought to the transfer station because the city does not have enough equipment to haul and transport them to the landfill in Consolacion.

These piles of garbage or mini dumpsites and the continuous use of the landfill as dumping area are among the findings of the EMB-7 during a recent inspection.

EMB-7, in a letter to the council, told the city officials that the full closure and rehabilitation of the landfill and a long-term solution for the solid waste management of the city is urgent.

EMB 7 Director Fernando Quililan said that the closure of the landfill will eventually remove the adjacent junkshops or MRFs that are creating the mini dumpsites and further hurting the environment.

The environment bureau also questioned the city why the segregation policy is no longer being implemented as obvious in the set-up at the transfer station where the unhauled garbage that is supposed to be dumped in Consolacion stays in the same place.

The transfer station is located inside the landfill. It was established so garbage trucks that cannot proceed to Consolacion may transfer the trash to bigger garbage trucks rented by the city daily.

But the lack of hauling equipment only allows the city to transfer 40 percent of the garbage brought at the transfer station to the landfill in Consolacion.

Navarro said that the full closure of the landfill is impossible overnight as the city has not decided yet how to go about the remediation of the landfill.

Although the office of the mayor has approved the proposal of Greenergy Solutions Inc. to build a Gasification Facility in the landfill at no cost to the city, the proposal has not secured the approval of the City Council. — (FREEMAN)