Urdaneta landfill agrees to take Baguio garbage

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The search for a dump for this city’s more than 200-ton daily garbage ended yesterday after a sanitary landfill in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan finally allowed the waste in its facility.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said in a statement that the waste disposal area they found in Urdaneta charges lower and is nearer than the private landfill in Capas, Tarlac.

Domogan has reportedly forged an agreement with the liaison officer of the Urdaneta landfill for the dumping of the waste after the Supreme Court ordered the permanent closure of Baguio’s Irisan dump which collapsed and claimed six lives last year.

The trash slide had also “polluted” the water sources in Tuba, Benguet.

Domogan said the city government could save P100 for every ton of garbage dumped in the Urdaneta sanitary landfill which charges P800 per ton, aside from savings in fuel and travel cost.

Plans to dump garbage elsewhere like in Itogon and Sablan towns in Benguet, Rosario town in La Union, and in Sto. Tomas in Tuba did not push through due to the villagers’ refusal, among other problems.

Various proposals for the construction of a waste disposal system in the city by private firms were also unsuccessful.

Domogan earlier said the city government was bent on finding a permanent solution to the local solid waste problems while justifying the P150-million budget for Baguio’s 2013 solid waste management.