Young suggests reopening of landfill, amid barangays’ complaints

Monday, January 23, 2012

CEBU City Acting Mayor Joy Augustus Young has suggested to reopen the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill.

He received complaints from the barangays who dump their garbage in a dumpsite in Consolacion town following the closure of the Inayawan sanitary landfill last December 10.

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The complaints include the bogging down of garbage trucks, more fuel consumption and longer time to dispose of the garbage.

The latest was the apprehension of the village garbage trucks in Mandaue City for violating City Ordinance No. 10-2006-372, which regulates the handling of garbage.

The trucks used the busy streets in Mandaue and spilled liquid garbage on the road.

Placido Jerusalem of the Mandaue City Solid Waste Enforcement Team said Cebu City Department of Public Services chief Dionisio Gualiza came to his office after six garbage trucks from Cebu City were apprehended.

Jerusalem advised Gualiza to have their truck drivers observe proper handling of garbage.

At least four trucks owned by the barangays were apprehended last week and two others from the Department of Public Services (DPS).

Material recovery

Young, as acting mayor, can order the reopening of the Inayawan sanitary landfill. But he said he would not do it since Mayor Michael Rama, who is in India, will be back in the next few days.

Young said if he had his way, the material recovery facility (MRF) should be established in Inayawan so the garbage in the city will be processed, just like when Rama ordered the closure of the landfill in April last year.

Lawyer Janeses Ponce, a representative of Rama to the Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB), said they encountered problems in diverting the city’s waste to Consolacion.

Aside from the apprehensions and the complaints received by Young, Ponce said some garbage truck drivers reported to him that residents in Consolacion put spikes on the road leading to the landfill while others throw stones at them.

He planned yesterday to accompany the drivers in reporting the incidents to the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) and ask assistance.

Ponce said the situation has worsened in the past days.

But a Mandaue City official is challenging the Cebu City Government to identify the particular barangay in Mandaue City where residents threw stones at Cebu City garbage trucks.

Engineer Ricardo “Gaga” Mendoza of the Mandaue City Solid Waste Management Team, said he was surprised by the allegations and challenged Cebu City to name the area where the incident allegedly took place.

He said since garbage trucks from Cebu City usually pass the National Highway, the stone pelting could have occurred there.

This, as the lawyer is appealing to Consolacion residents to bring their concern to the proper forum. He also urged the landfill management to strengthen its community relations.

Square one

Ponce is not amenable to the idea of reopening the Inayawan sanitary landfill even if it is only for the processing of waste.

He said they are into remediation and diverting the city’s trash to Consolacion is part of it.

“If we allow to reopen the landfill, it’s just like we are back to square one,” he said.

“That’s not the solution because the landfill has become obsolete years ago. Unya balik na sab ta sa processing and all that? It doesn’t make sense nga magbalik-balik ta. Let’s make a final solution gyud,” Ponce said.

City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said reopening the landfill might create other problems.

He said the proposal has to be carefully weighed by the SWMB since there were compelling reasons why the landfill was closed.

No dice

Poblete said the decision to close the facility was arrived at after a series of workshops and discussions not only among City Hall officials but also the private sector.

Councilor Eduardo Rama, in a separate interview, said the landfill can no longer be reopened even if for processing purposes only.

He said when the facility was closed in April, only 10 to 20 percent were being processed and the rest were dumped in the landfill.

Rama, who chairs the council’s committee on public services, said this was the reason they encouraged the barangays to put up their own material recovery facility.

Inayawan sanitary landfill operations manager Randy Navarro said, though, they don’t have any problem if processing of waste will be done at the dumpsite.

He said the three-hectare service area in the landfill is enough to accommodate the segregated waste, although, they no longer have the machines to process the trash.

The city was only renting the bioreactors, shredder machines, hammer mill and other equipment for processing of garbage when the landfill was partially closed last April.

The landfill operations manager said the City can also generate income in the processed waste because there are people who will buy it.

Meantime, Young said the City should pay the fines imposed by the Mandaue City Government on the city’s garbage truck drivers.

DPS Chief Gualiza said, though, he already suggested to their drivers and to the barangays to contribute to pay for the compromise penalty.

He also created a monitoring team to help the garbage collectors oversee their trucks to avoid further violation of any Mandaue City ordinances.

However, Gualisa wondered if transport permit is really needed in carrying the trash passing a public road.