THE City Government of Bacolod urged all village officials to cooperate in the implementation of waste segregation policy in the city.

Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chairman of Solid Waste Action Team (Swat), said they need the cooperation of the village officials because the city’s cell no. 2 at the sanitary landfill in Barangay Felisa is almost complete.

Familiaran said that after the construction of cell no. 2, it will be turned over to the City Government.

“Once it will be turned over to the city government, we have no choice but to collect only the segregated waste. We will not dump mix garbage because in two months’ time it will be full of garbage, and it’s a violation in the national law,” he added.

The vice-mayor pointed out that once the city will occupy cell no. 2, the city will implement the “no segregation, no collection policy.”

The cell no. 2 was constructed by the city’s garbage hauler IPM-Constriction and Development Corporation (IPM-CDC).

Familiaran said it’s the function of the barangay officials to educate their constituents in the implementation of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

“This is a challenge for us and we need the cooperation of everybody here, especially the barangay officials. If our residents fail to segregate, the barangay should segregate it,” he said.

In 2018, the City Government implemented the “no segregation, no collection” policy, but the program failed after it was observed that residents still did not practice the proper ways of disposing their garbage.

Familiaran said most of the city’s residents are not complying with the waste segregation and that Bacolod is still zero in terms of compliance.

He said based on the report of the garbage hauler IPM-CDC, a majority of the households in various villages have no compliance.

The vice-mayor added that barangay officials should intensify information dissemination to educate their constituents on waste segregation.