City to develop adjacent lot to expand the nearly-full sanitary landfill
THE CITY is developing a newly purchased lot beside the present sanitary landfill in Barangay New Carmen, Tugbok District, to address the rising volume of waste.
Councilor Temujin Ocampo, the committee on environment and natural resources chair, revealed this during Monday’s “Madayaw Davao” program at the Davao City Disaster Radio.
“Ang atong syudad duna’y gipalit nga luna tapad ra pud didto sa atong dump site ron (The city government bought a land beside the current dump site). They are now developing it,” he said.
CENRO head Engr. Marivic Reyes said the sanitary landfill is nearing its maximum capacity.
“The situation now at our sanitary landfill is that it’s nearly filled up. But with the efforts of our team to rehabilitate and compact it, we were able to extend its lifespan. For now, it can last until 2023,” she told the local government radio in September last year.
According to Ocampo, the new facility will feature storage for hazardous and infectious wastes, which the current sanitary landfill doesn’t have. Once it is completed and operational, it would help improve the local solid waste management considering that the city generates 700 to 800 tons of garbage daily.
The waste volume spikes to 1,000 tons daily during special city activities, such as the Araw ng Dabaw and Kadayawan sa Dabaw.
Meanwhile, he also said the Barangay Ecological Solid Waste Management Summit proposal is awaiting the approval of the City Mayor’s Office.
The summit would convene barangay captains and councilors, government agencies, private organizations, and establishments “to purposely discuss the city’s solid waste management program, including segregation, etc.”
“The DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) is also making an inventory sa mga barangay na aktibo sa (of barangays active in) solid waste management,” he added.
Ocampo said the law provides that government-owned lots should be used for solid waste management, but the city’s poblacion area no longer has the space for it.
With the summit, stakeholders can craft plans and solutions to improve the city’s solid waste management.
The first district councilor said private-sector agencies could also give their suggestions.
Ocampo said, “Kinahanglan magtinabangay ug mapasabot nato sa mga barangay unsa’y ilang role gyud noh (We need to work together and explain to the barangays what their role really is).”
The 2009 Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance of Davao City mandates that all waste generators must sort their solid wastes at the source. It also requires materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in all barangays.
But since not all have MRFs, Ocampo said some barangays had to resort to measures like more frequent garbage collection, sorting, and composting.
