City to continue using dumpsite in Inayawan

CEBU - Due to the lack of an alternative to the existing Inayawan Sanitary Landfill, the city will have to continue using it even if it is already full beyond its capacity.

This was the statement of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday, who said that the city will have to continue dumping in Inayawan for the next few years.

“We have no new site for dumpsite. Our thrust is to use the landfill for another few years,” he said.

With this problem, Osmeña said that the immediate action would be to reduce garbage by 30 to 50 percent using modern technology.

On the average, 400 tons of garbage is collected daily in Cebu City.

The Inayawan Sanitary Landfill was expected to be full by 2005, but remains being used to date due to the lack of an alternative.

Cemex, a cement manufacturer based in Naga City, has expressed intention to help in the garbage problem of the city by buying the plastic at the landfill.  The firm would use the plastic as fuel.

The mayor also suggested that the metals in the landfill can be taken out and the city can find ways to dispose of them.

Hospital waste

Cebu City Councilor Christopher Alix bared yesterday that a new pit will be dug at the Inayawan landfill for hospital waste.

This is in response to the recent discovery of body parts dumped in the landfill from the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).

Recently, scavengers discovered at least 10 kilos of various body parts dumped at the landfill.

The management of CCMC has denied responsibility for such and blamed the Department of Public Services (DPS) for failing to dispose of the hospital waste properly.

Alix, who is the city council chairman on health, hospital services and sanitation, had a closed-door meeting with CCMC officials about this matter yesterday.

Osmeña said that the city will enter into a memorandum of agreement with Pollution Abatement System Specialists, which operates a hospital waste treatment facility to ensure that all waste from CCMC would undergo treatment through microwave and autoclaving.

It maybe recalled that PASSI board chairman Antonio Tompar recently raised the matter on the failure of most hospitals to follow the law on the disposal of hazardous waste.

Tompar had said that they are expecting to collect 2,000 kilos hospital waste daily (based on the 2001 survey) and yet they only treat around 400 kilos of hospital waste everyday.

Randy Navarro, officer-in-charge of the landfill admitted that they also face the problem of untreated hospital waste being mixed with ordinary garbage especially that they are having a hard time inspecting all garbage bags dumped at the dumpsite.

The PASSI facility is located just beside the entrance of the landfill. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)