Fewer trash collected

CEBU, Philippines — The final citywide clean-up drive for 2024 in Cebu City ended with the fewest garbage collected in all four editions this year.

Vice Mayor Donaldo Hontiveros said the 18th quarterly cleanup the other day resulted in around 53 metric tons of mixed waste collected.

In particular, per weight checkers at the Brgy. Binaliw landfill, 11.15 tons of garbage were collected from the south district and 17 tons from the north district.

Aside from that, there was also garbage collected and transported privately to Binaliw at 24.58 tons.

Despite this, though, the volume of garbage collected is actually the smallest compared to the other three clean-ups this year.

Last March, the citywide cleanup resulted in 87 tons collected; 80 tons in June; and 85.60 tons in September.

Last Saturday’s collected garbage is also smaller compared to the last quarter citywide clean-up last year, which resulted in a collection of 61.40 tons.

The Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office have not yet reported what could have caused the drop in the volume of garbage collected this time, although there are already barangays that have started to institutionalize segregation, recycling, as well as a “trash for cash” program.

In particular, the City Government named last month eight barangays to serve as pilot areas for the reimplementation of the “No Segregation, No Collection” policy, namely: Tinago, Tejero, San Roque, Carreta, Luz, Mabolo, Basak San Nicolas, and Basak Pardo.

Ma. Emma Ramas, the City’s Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB) overseer, said the City Government will monitor the progress of the eight barangays until Jan. 1, 2025, when the policy is fully implemented.

She likewise said that the management of the Carbon Market has also built its own materials recovery facility to reduce the volume of garbage collected from the market.

Although the clean-up drive for this year has concluded, the Cebuanos are expected to keep the city, including the major rivers, clean.

As what Hontiveros said earlier, keeping the city’s waterways and communities clean is a shared responsibility and not solely by the government. – /RHM (FREEMAN)