Landfill rehab still awaiting nod

CEBU, Philippines —  Will the Safe Closure and Rehabilitation Plan (SCRP) for the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill be approved on the last session day of the 14th Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cebu City?

The father of the plan remains uncertain as members of the City Council asked Full Advantage Phils. International Inc. (FAPII) to revise and submit the final SCRP before they will end their term this month.

City Councilors Jocelyn Pesquera, Joel Garganera, and Franklyn Ong questioned the firm’s proposal to cut the mounds of garbage from 15 meters down to four meters.

“I cannot understand why four, not three or two meters?” Pesquera said, saying that the elevation of the landfill might be a concern for the people living near it.

Dr. Bernard Tadeo of FAPII said amendments and revisions to the plan will be submitted to the City Council to address their concerns.

As to the fencing, Tadeo said the maximum height of the landfill is 15 meters.

“So imagine for how many years? Before, it should be higher because it has been compacted now and became lower,” he said.

Ong said he wanted to know the implication if the city government, which will implement the plan, will cut the mountain of trash from 15 meters to two or three meters.

Tadeo said it would be costly on the part of the city government, stressing that the city’s engineering department and FAPII agreed to have it to four meters instead.

“The four meters is a proposal for you to have four meters because for us, that’s a good elevation to stage the project. If you want it to be four or three meters in the implementation, I guess it will be tackled thoroughly,” he said.

“If you cut more, the cutting and filling and moving to the other direction, it would be costly. We consider the volume of the garbage,” he added.

Garganera, for his part, asked if the whole 15-hectare property will be fenced, to which Tadeo answered in the affirmative.

As for the leachate and the drainage of the landfill, Councilor David Tumulak said he noticed that the plan proposes to retain 367,570 tons of garbage while it proposes to remove 323,714 tons of garbage.

But Tumulak said he did not notice in the proposed plan how the methane deposits would be removed.

Tadeo said there are gas vents to be installed after the cutting of the upper portion of the landfill, adding that the volume of gas in the landfill may not give significant pressure or effect.

He said it is just compliant to the requirement of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Environmental Management Bureau-7.

As for the leachate plan, Tadeo said the company will retain the dimension of the leachate pond, and that there would be rehabilitation of the existing pond.

There will also be pipe for the drainage system and the leachate pond, he added.

Tadeo said technologies would be applied in the leachate to ensure that the rain-off water will not be mixed with the existing leachate pond which is covered with waste. He said that there should be cleaning and rehabilitating of the service area.

“But definitely, it will be part of the plan. The portion that you were raising last time, we will amend that to include whatever there in the appendix especially on the leachate study,” he said.

This, as Pesquera asked Tadeo to incorporate in the plan the detailed innovations to address and rehabilitate the leachate in the landfill.

Tadeo said the plan is the compliance on the Writ of Kalikasan ordered by the court and environmental laws.

Aside from the proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) facility in the service area, FAPII has recommended three options as to what the city government will do with the rehabilitated landfill: (1) industrial or economic zone; (2) recreational eco-park; and (3) renewable energy center. — JMD (FREEMAN)