NE town adopts 10-yr solid waste mgm’t plan

SAN LEONARDO, Nueva Ecija – A 10-year municipal solid waste management plan has been crafted by the Municipal Solid Waste Management Board (MSWMB) which shall govern the ecological solid waste management system in this fast-growing municipality until 2014.

Mayor Ramon Revilla-Bautista said that the 25-page solid waste management plan is contained in Resolution no. 2 passed by the MSWMB of which he is chairman and subsequently approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP).

Bautista said that the action plan’s principal objective is to promote and implement an ecological solid waste management system in the town applying the concept of reuse, source reduction, recycling and containment of hazardous waste.

The plan, he said, is pursuant to Section 16 of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2002.

Revilla-Bautista said the plan is necessary because the town, which has a population of 50,875 based on a 2001 population census has an annual growth rate of 1.03 percent. The town is projected to produce 4,230 tons of waste per annum by 2014, up from 3,874 tons in 2005.

At present, garbage collection is being done in barangays Bonifacio, Burgos, Rizal and San Bartolome and at the municipal public market in Barangay Diversion. Garbage is collected daily and wastes are dumped in the enbankment of the Peñaranda River in Barangay Bonifacio.

Municipal administrator Ruben Esquejo Jr., MSWMB vice chairman, told The STAR that the action plan also envisions to have a waste management technology that is capable of accepting any type of waste.

Under the plan, a copy of which was furnished The STAR, the municipal government through the MSWMB, shall establish a central material recovery facility (MRF) which shall serve as central processing center. Smaller MRFs shall also be established at the barangay center in each of the town’s 15 barangays and in the school which shall serve as collecting points.

The central processing center shall be managed by the municipal engineer while the municipal environment and natural resources officer shall handle the total ecological campaign.

The barangay chairman in each barangay shall head a barangay solid waste committee (BSWC) which shall handle the total management of the barangay processing center in cooperation with the respective purok leaders while the public school’s waste management program by the district supervisor of the Department of Education (DepEd) in collaboration with the respective school principals and private school.

The BSWC shall also be composed of one kagawad, one Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairman, the president of the homeowners’ association, and representatives from the Parent-Teachers’ Association (PTA), religious organizations, business community, environmental non government organization (NGO) and market vendors’ association.

Esquejo said that even before the completion of the 10-year plan, the municipal government is already establishing a one-hectare lot in Barangay Bonifacio at a cost P5 million financed by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

The municipal government, under the plan, is tasked to implement mandatory waste segregation in the household and in establishments, particularly saleable materials, biodegradable and reusable materials and other residual waste. Strict penalties will be imposed on violators.

Special waste, toxic and hazardous materials discharged from industries, farms, hospitals, funeral parlors and commercial sources shall be disposed of separately from conventional waste.

The municipal government shall handle a controlled dumpsite and subscribe to the common landfill facility being promoted by the provincial government.

The plan aims to reduce solid waste in the town by 25 percent in 2006 and transport hazardous and toxic waste at the provincial landfill by 2007.

Esquejo said that the MSWMB will review the action plan every two years or as necessary to ensure its sustainability, viability, effectiveness and relevance in relation to local, national and international development in the field of solid waste management.

It will also adopt specific revenue-generating measures or build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreements to provide exclusive authority for collection, transfer, storage, processing, recycling or disposal of municipal waste.