Liloan vice mayor: Sanitary landfill, not open dumpsite

Liloan town Vice Mayor Thelma Jordan clarified that the dumpsite project soon to be established in barangay Calero is a controlled sanitary landfill, not an open dump as residents believe it to be.

“We must correct that misconception,” Jordan said in a press statement sent to The FREEMAN.

Some residents in the barangay have been opposing the project, believing that it is an open dumpsite. They contended that aside from air pollution that the project brings, it will affect the beauty of Calero.

But municipal engineer Remedios Udtohan said that in a sanitary landfill, several steps will be done to address concerns on pollution.

To be managed by the municipal government, the sanitary landfill will entail the laying down of lining materials and the installation of pipes for treatment of leachate.

The garbage will also be covered, and only residual wastes will be allowed in the area.

Manix Dongkoy of the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said that only residual wastes such as shampoo sachets will be accommodated for disposal in a landfill.

Remains of dead animals or anything associated with pungent odor will not be accommodated, he added

Dongkoy also called on the public to practice solid waste management at the household level.

The project has an allocation of P3 million in the annual budget.

A sanitary landfill is a waste disposal site that is meant to minimize water pollution from runoff and leaching.

Wastes are spread in thin layers, compacted and covered with soil to prevent it from becoming an eyesore and to minimize pests, disease, foul smell and water pollution.

An open dumpsite, on the other hand, is a land disposal site where solid and liquid wastes are deposited and left uncovered, with little or no regard for control of scavengers, aesthetic, disease, and air and water pollution. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/LPM