Cebu City to establish waste-to-energy facility

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Government is now working on the establishment of a waste to energy (WTE) facility for the controversial Inayawan landfill in order to solve the city’s garbage disposal problem.

The said facility will process the trash inside the landfill to be converted into energy. However, the energy generated from the said facility will not be equal to other power plants.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who is currently out of the country, posted on his Facebook account he is studying putting up the facility in the city soon.

“The plant I am looking at is a sight to behold. Five hundred tons of garbage is burnt here every day to make electricity. The plant's emissions pass the Euro industrial standards, and the byproducts are slag used to make bricks we can use to fix our roads and water so clean fish can live in it. (The) WTE doesn't create as much energy as a normal power plant, but our objective in Cebu is to dispose of our garbage in the most economical and environmentally friendly way as possible. The electricity is just a happy bonus,” his post reads.

He added that Singapore and Japan have already established such facility.

Osmeña and his family are in Singapore to support the mayor’s brother, former senator Sergio "Serge" Osmeña, who will undergo an operation there.

Around November last year, Osmeña already divulged that the city government planned to put up such facility soon.

In fact, former councilor Nida Cabrera, who was tasked to oversee the reopening of the landfill, admitted that there are already two private companies that presented their proposal.

The Mega Pacific of the Pangilinan group and Bio-Plant Technology from Germany were already directed to submit their final proposal to the city.

In a separate interview, Department of Public Services Assistant Head John Paul Gelasque told The FREEMAN that maybe Cabrera and DPS head Roberto “Bob” Cabarrubias are with Osmeña for the WTE establishment.

“I think he’s with Mayor Tom ron in abroad for that WTE (project),” he said.

Gelasque said the move of the city government on the establishment of a WTE was part of their commitment to the Court of Appeals (CA) to rehabilitate the landfill.

Last December 15, the CA issued a closure order on the landfill for violating 13 environmental laws and non-compliance of sanitary requirements.

The court then orders the city to rehabilitate the landfill. The expense of putting up such technology in the landfill will be charged under this year’s approved budget for the rehabilitation of the facility amounting to P85 million.

Meanwhile, the DPS has not seen any problem yet from the time Osmeña withheld the allowances of barangay garbage loaders last February pending the employees’ performance evaluation.

“Kay wala raman problema sa garbage collection. Kaya paman sa DPS ang pag-rescue sa mga nagpa-rescue og garbage collection,” Gelasque said.

At present, the city has started rehabilitating the Inayawan landfill starting with the fencing of the entire facility.

Cabrera said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is monitoring the rehabilitation activities, as mandated by the court.

“Lisod man gud na padalion kay ang gigamit nato nga kwarta kay sa gobyerno man daghan ug process,” she said.

The city government has set aside P85 million for the rehabilitation of the said facility. —/GAN (FREEMAN)