RICE for recyclable trash, anyone?
Mandaue City residents may soon get grocery items in exchange for recyclable wastes.
The City Government has partnered with a non-profit group to set up and run “exchange centers” where residents can get rice, canned goods, noodles and other basic commodities in exchange for garbage that can still be used.
The “Basura Ko, Mapahimuslan Ko” program aims to reduce waste by giving incentives to residents who segregate garbage, said Ricardo Mendoza, head of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office.
Mayor Jonas Cortes last Tuesday signed a memorandum of agreement with the Sulong Mandauehanong Kabus Inc. (Sumaka), a people’s organization, to implement the program.
The City is allocating an initial amount of P500,000 for the goods and the operation of exchange centers, which will be put up in major sitios in the 27 barangays.
“We are hitting two birds with one stone,” Mendoza told Sun.Star Cebu. “We are reducing wastes and at the same time helping provide basic commodities to those in need.”
The first exchange center, he said, will be opened next month in Barangay Subangdaku, one of the city’s biggest barangays.
“Subangdaku will be our pilot area. We will observe the operation of the center there so we will know what problems we might encounter along the way,” he said.
Mendoza likened the center to a sari-sari store. The goods and recyclable items have corresponding points.
“Let’s say one kilo of plastic is 10 points. Mopili lang ka unsa nga commodity nga imong pailisan nga maigo sa imong punto (You will choose the commodity that fits the number of points you earn),” said Mendoza.
Business plan
To sustain the exchange centers, the City and Sumaka will sell the recyclable waste materials to a recycling company operating in the city. The proceeds will be used to re-stock the centers.
The City hopes to reduce waste collection through the program. Its garbage trucks collect 460 tons of garbage every day and dump these in a sanitary landfill in Barangay Umapad.
Mendoza said the program can help reduce garbage by 10 percent. He said 10 percent of wastes generated every day can be recycled, 30 percent are non-biodegradable and 60 percent are biodegradable.
The City opened the sanitary landfill last year. The area was formerly an open dumpsite, which the City closed to comply with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
While developing the site into a sanitary landfill, the City threw its wastes in a private facility in neighboring Consolacion town.
Mendoza said they hope to put up an exchange center in all major sitios in the 27 barangays within the year. But he said his office may request for more funding to cover all sitios with big population.
He said he will also talk with the Mandaue City Chamber of Commerce to help fund the construction of exchange centers because not all barangays have funds for the project.
Exchange
Under the City’s agreement with Sumaka, the latter will assign coordinators in every sitio to handle the exchange center.
Activities in the exchange center will also be monitored and documented by the Cenro.
Mendoza said the exchange centers will complement the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) operating in some barangays.
He said only five barangays have functional MRFs: Pagsabungan, Canduman, Casili, Tawason and Cubacub.
The City is planning to put up an MRF at the sanitary landfill for the barangays that do not have one.
More than operating MRFs, a few barangays have been been running waste recycling facilities.
Barangay Pagsabungan operates a machine that turns plastic wastes into fuel. It has a center is equipped with a plastic shredder and another machine where shredded plastic materials are fed to produce fuel that sea vessels can use.
Barangay Canduman also operates a facility where plastic wastes are shredded and used to make pillows.
Involvement
In a separate forum, an official said that the pollution and contamination of Metro Cebu’s bodies of water, especially the rivers of Guadalupe, Mananga, Mahiga and Butuanon, are “80-90 percent” caused by the indiscriminate throwing of waste by households.
Speaking during the Cebu Media Forum, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 public information officer Dr. Eddie Llamedo said that the active involvement of city and barangay officials is needed to stop this practice.
Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo, the host of the forum, said that all homeowners should adopt standard septic tanks that can be de-sludged and whose wastes can be treated.
He also urged establishments to put up water treatment facilities so that waste water from their operations can be treated before being released into bodies of water.
Chairman Rene Mercado of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) said that the water distributor is concerned about the proper collection of waste from septic tanks. If wastes coming from the so-called bottomless septic tanks (or tanks without cement flooring) remain unsolved, the risk of contamination will be high.
“That is why all people must also follow the law,” Mercado said.
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(Originally published in SunStar Cebu on February 22, 2015)