At Inayawan sanitary landfill JICA to put P14M treatment facility

CEBU, Philippines - The Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) has proposed the installation of a P14 million worth of treatment facility at Inayawan Sanitary Landfill at no cost to the City Government of Cebu.

JICA has presented yesterday before the City Council the proposal to provide equipment for solid waste management and resource recycling in the entire Cebu to mitigate environmental pollutions like water, air and soil.

 The help JICA is extending to the city through the AMCON Inc. and Mansei Recycle Systems Co. Ltd. is embedded in the memorandum of understanding between the City of Cebu and the City of Yokohama in Japan years back.

Yasuhiro Yamaguchi, Mansei advisor in Carbon Free Consulting Corporation, said the City government has to provide electricity and water usage of the facility; heavy machinery to handle waste at the facility; and manpower or line workers to participate in the survey.

He explained that establishment of the facility will stimulate recycling business, reduce amount of landfill waste through recycling, reduce burden on final landfill site, create jobs for scavengers and it will improve the environment.

The facility according to Yamaguchi is capable of recycling plastic waste in Inayawan sanitary landfill into plastic fluff fuel and can process at least 50 tons of waste in eight hours, producing around five tons of plastic fuel.

With this, the City government will benefit from selling the plastic fuel to the local cement manufacturers in the Province of Cebu as an alternative to coal and other traditional fuel.

The ownership of the equipment will be transferred to the city after the two years pilot survey in August of 2015.

Within two years period the company will provide on-site training to the city’s line workers; plan and supervise the test operations of the facility and Mansei will provide managerial and engineering staff from the Japan .

The company is expecting to install the equipment at Inayawan Sanitary Landfill on March, 2014.

AMCON will be providing the city government a treatment facility to enhance the septage management.

Seiji Kikuchi, manager of Overseas Division of AMCON Inc., said they will use organic chemical to treat the water before discharging to the bodies of water to mitigate water pollution.

Councilor Nida Cabrera, chairman on the committee on environment, said the treatment facility would be a great help considering the current condition of city’s waters.

Councilor Gerardo Carrillo also said that JICA is giving a huge opportunity not only to the city but to the environment and the people in the community who are greatly affected by this garbage and polluted waters.

“What is important is the water is clean before it reaches to the sea, river or lakes,” Carillo said.

Kikuchi said the septage and sludge treatment facility can release eight cubic meters per day of treated water adding that the recycled dewatered cake, a treated bio-solids can be used in composting.

While the city will not be spending money for the installment of the facility, it will shoulder the maintenance of polymers and the machine to continue its operations after two years of pilot survey.

“We are helping you in some aspects that will be of your advantage and this is sort of a donation to Cebu City,” said Yamaguchi.

MANSEI and AMCON have offered its services after the pilot survey ends in 2015 through consultancy or outsource as private business.

The City Council is set to pass a resolution authorizing Mayor Michael Rama to sign in behalf of the city a memorandum of agreement between JICA to formally start the pilot survey. — (FREEMAN)