BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan has initiated talks with Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan in order to get the consent to use the Antamok site for the engineered sanitary landfill (ESL) of the city.
Domogan said the initial meeting is slated on July 27 with Benguet Corporation and Palangdan. The meeting is seen to iron out plans for the site and discuss with Palangdan some of his apprehensions.
“Itogon is the only option that the city hopes to because the Benguet Corporation offers to Baguio City a 24 hectare land portion of Itogon for free within 25 years as the site to use for the Integrated Solid Waste Management,” City General Services Office (GSO) Officer-in-Charge Eugene Buyucan said.
Buyucan earlier said the volume of garbage in the city is steadily increasing.
Total waste generation of Baguio City is estimated to reach 402,776.38 kilograms per day.
Baguio waste is comprised of 41.67 percent biodegradables, 33.78 percent recyclables, 24.15 percent residuals and 0.41 percent special waste.
Hauling, though expensive, has been identified by the Environment and Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as an acceptable means of disposal for areas which can afford the service and is still without an ESL.
However, Buyucan added it is not easy to negotiate because they need the decision and demand from the people of Itogon.
“Mahirap na maapprove ang ganyang lugar because we need so far a social acceptability from the environmental compliance and also to ask them kung ano bang gagawin kung okay ba sa kanila,” Buyucan said.
“Ang Urdaneta kase ay masyadong malayo to be the site for the disposal of the solid waste that’s why we need to coordinate well with the Municipality of Itogon as they are the hopes for the solid waste management sites in the City of Baguio since they are the host municipality,” Buyucan added.
Buyucan also said if Itogon will approve the site for Baguio City’s solid waste management, then there will be solid waste components that will use such as the Waste to Energy, Waste to Fertilizer, Engineered Sanitary Landfill and Special Waste Management for the hospital waste. (With a report from Giovanni Galendez/MMSU intern)