“Tipping fees” for garbage pushed

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has suggested that local government units should collect "tipping fees" from business establishments for garbage collection services.

The suggestion came after Amancio Dongcoy, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-DENR) Regional Solid Waste Management Coordinator, learned that a mall in Lapu-Lapu City is only paying P300 a year as administrative fee for the collection of 2,000 kilos of garbage a day.

Dongcoy said the city government of Lapu-Lapu could have earned P2,000 daily if "tipping fee" is pegged at P1 per kilo.

"Kulang gyud ang admin fee ilang gibayad kay ang city magbayad man og tipping fees sa mo-deliver sa (garbage) didto private landfill, gas, salary sa driver, etc," Dongcoy said.

Dongcoy, who was the speaker in yesterday's orientation seminar on Solid Waste Management for barangay officials in Cebu City, said that not only Lapu-Lapu would suffer a revenue loss if the law will not be amended.

He was referring to Sec. 131 (17) of the Local Government Code which defines fee as "a charge fixed by law or ordinance for the regulation or inspection of a business or activity."

But Dongcoy said "tipping fees" are also allowed in accordance with Section 47 of Republic Act No. 9003.

"The local government unit shall impose fees in amounts sufficient to pay the costs of preparing, adopting, and implementing a solid waste management plan prepared pursuant to this Act," the Solid Waste Management Act provides.

Lawyer Jade Ponce, chairperson of the Cebu City Solid Waste Management Board, agreed that there is a need to change the ordinance on garbage fees as it is already "antiquated."

Ponce said the amounts the establishments are paying are only for the regulation and not the cost for the actual waste generated.

He said that collection of garbage fees should not be based on the area of the establishment but rather on the volume of garbage it generates in a day.

 "There is a need to revisit the way we charge garbage because the garbage fees we are collecting is only for administrative and regulation fees and it does not cover the actual cost of the garbage," he said.

"To give more equity since you produce more garbage so you should pay more. If you don't want to pay the fees that we want to impose then dispose it yourself," he added.

Amending the ordinance, Ponce said, is advantageous to the city because the revenues on the garbage collection would increase and would further strengthen the solid waste management of the city.

"Kita tanan mi-subsidize sa dako nga mall ngano wa maatiman kadtong mga barangay sa suok-suok or improving the city's infrastructures and increasing the cash assistance to seniors," Ponce said.  (FREEMAN)