Jancom to build sanitary landfill

Jancom Environmental Corp. assured government authorities yesterday that a modern, state-of-the-art sanitary landfill will handle more than half of Metro Manila’s garbage within six months upon issuance of an environmental clearance certificate.

In a meeting yesterday with MMDA Chairman Benjamin Abalos and other government officials, including Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez, Presidential Management Staff Secretary Vicky Garchitorena, Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, Jancom officials said they are just awaiting the report of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau before they apply for an environmental clearance certificate with the Environment Management Bureau.

Manuel Molina, Jancom spokesman, said the landfill facility will be engineered and managed by Vivendi, its principal partner, a world leader in waste management, presently operating over a hundred similar plants in 35 countries, the nearest of which is in Hong Kong.

He said Vivendi will finance the project, including the materials recovery facilities (MRFs) under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement.

The proposed sanitary landfill, according to Molina, will be a rigorously engineered waste treatment center, with rigid safety standards, to ensure utmost environmental protection.

"The initial processing stations, the MRFs, will automatically sort out, segregate, and classify the waste materials brought in from collection stations," he pointed out.

Molina said recyclable items will be returned to industrial users, some of the organic materials will be converted into organic fertilizers, while the rest will be compacted and brought to the landfill site in sealed container vans.

Upon arrival at the landfill site, around which a modern community will rise, the waste materials, according to him, will be thoroughly and strictly inspected.

"The facility’s engineers and employees will see to it that storage volume is optimized, using compacting techniques; and run-off water, leachates, and biogas are efficiently collected and treated," he added.

Molina explained that to ensure maximum environmental protection, the design and development of the facility are provided with waterproofed landfill cells, fitted with synthetic geomembranes to maximize the site’s permeability, equipped with biogas and leachate drainage collection and other equipment for controlling liquid and gas emissions.

All these built-in features of the plant, according to him, will ensure the viable redevelopment of the landfill site after its capacity limit is reached and is abandoned.

"Vivendi will monitor the site’s long-term post-operation for its safety and stability and all throughout its operations, a landscape reintegration program will be in force to suit its future use either for agriculture, sports grounds and perhaps as forest area," he added.