ONLY around 37 percent of the 182 barangays in Davao City are “religiously implementing” waste management, an official of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) said.
He said in the downtown area, several barangays were able to implement proper waste management after having their own recycling storage box.
“Na-encourage na gyud nato, naa na gani sila’y mga recyclable storage box diha sa ilang mga kabarangayanan para makatabang ang constituents or households na didto ibutang ilang mga recyclable materials (In the downtown area, we were able to encourage Barangays 1 to 14 to have their own recycling storage box so that their constituents or households will be able to put their recyclable materials in it),” Orly Limpangog, CENRO Information Education Campaign Unit Focal Person, said in an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio on November 4, 2022.
Cenro said one of the factors why only a few barangays implement the Solid Waste Management Ordinance is due to a lack of space and funds.
To answer the lack of funds, Cenro urged barangay officials to implement the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Ordinance seriously as they will benefit from the citation tickets that will be collected from violators. The collected fines can be used to establish their own materials recovery facility.
“Sa bagong ordinance, naa na sa P50 pesos ang bayran dapat sa matag panimalay. At the same time, kung magdakop pud si barangay, 50 percent gihapon ang makuha sa barangay. Ang penalty nato karon kay naa sa P500 ang first offense (According to the new ordinance, the penalty is now P50 for each household. At the same time, if the barangay officials will apprehend violators, 50 percent of the collected amount will be given to the barangay. Our penalty now is P500 for the first offense),” Limpangog said.
According to Davao City’s SWM Ordinance of 2009, all barangays are obliged to have their own materials recovery facility where waste is segregated to be recycled, or for composting. Cenro will collect only residual and special waste for disposal.
“Gina-mandate man pud atong mga household na naa sila’y household composting, pati pud sa barangay gina-encourage pud sa balaod na naa pu’y barangay composting (It is mandated that every household should practice composting, even the barangay is encouraged),” he said.
Also, he said business establishments are not exempted from composting.
Aside from the collection, Limpangog said implementing SWM ordinance can also prevent blocked drainage and clogged waterway, which can cause flooding. KSD