Mandaue government looking at six areas for MRF

CEBU, Philippines - The Mandaue City government is now looking at six proposed locations as site for the material recovery facilities (MRF) of the city.

In yesterday's City Development Council meeting, Mayor Gabriel Luigi Quisumbing said the City Environment and Natural Resources Office already identified areas where to put up MRFs where waste segregation and recycling of collected wastes can be performed before disposal.

The proposed locations are in the Mahiga cluster in Barangay Subang-daku; Kadagatan cluster that will be placed in a 6.5 relocation site in Barangay Paknaan; Kabukiran cluster in Barangay Cubacob; Butuanon cluster in Barangay Tabok; Centro cluster in Barangay Cambaro; and the 9.2 cluster in the housing site of either Barangays Guizo or Mantuyong.

Under Section 32 of the Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act, each barangay or cluster barangay shall allocate a certain parcel of land for the MRF, which shall be a barangay-owned or leased land or any suitable open space for this purpose.

The MRF will receive mixed waste for final sorting, segregation, composting, and recycling. After which, the residual wastes shall be transferred to a long term storage or disposal facility or sanitary landfill.

Quisumbing said they decided to cluster the establishment of the facility since they cannot have one for all the 27 barangays because of limited space.

The mayor said the establishment of MRFs will decongest the landfill in Barangay Umapad, which is already set for closure for a four-year rehabilitation plan.

With the closure, the city plans to open an alternative dumping site in the upland barangay of Casili.

The host barangays where the MRF will be established, according to Quisumbing, will receive an incentive from the city government.

"Additional projects for their barangay," the mayor said. Quisumbing added that no barangay funds will be taken out for the construction and the payment for the personnel to manage the facility. (FREEMAN)