Trash dilemma, again

We find ourselves caught up in another trash situation as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered the city to stop its dumping at the South Road Properties. Out of curiosity, I tried to give the location a quick scan using a drone. I was in shock. The pile of garbage was right smack in the middle of the lush greenery that lot had to offer. From where we were documenting it, flies were infesting our personal belongings. A quick chat with workers from nearby establishments also yielded the same feedback: their daily lives have been disrupted by the ongoing trash situation.

I find myself thinking about a decade ago when the Inayawan landfill was forced to reopen. The stench reached the different establishments at the SRP. These were the supposed investors of the city who believed that it would be a good idea to bet their money on a bustling city like Cebu. While they could not have gone wrong with the way Cebu is progressing, it is also a gamble at the same time. The city is still in the same trash limbo.

If we try to examine the situation, Cebu City has yet to find its shortest and most viable solution to the impending garbage crisis. From January 8 until today, the easiest (and probably the most expensive) option has been to haul it to the town of Aloguinsan. It is, again, the same scenario that unfolded when the Inayawan landfill was ordered closed. The city's hard-earned income goes right to tipping fees and other incidental expenses for our waste to travel all the way to the south of Cebu. The closure of Inayawan should have been a lesson, not an opportunity for a private company to take advantage of the situation and open its own facility.

What is perhaps more frustrating is that this is no longer a problem that caught us by surprise. We have seen this movie before. We know how it begins, how it unfolds, and unfortunately, how it ends. Temporary solutions become permanent fixtures. Emergency measures stretch for months, even years. Officials change, administrations come and go, but the garbage remains.

The conversation often revolves around where to dump the waste, but rarely about how to produce less of it in the first place. Segregation remains inconsistent. Recycling initiatives are sporadic. Materials recovery facilities are discussed during presentations but hardly become part of everyday life for many communities. In the end, the city continues to generate tons of waste each day while scrambling to find somewhere else to put it.

Perhaps that is why the sight of garbage at the SRP felt so familiar. It was not just a pile of waste. It was a reminder that despite all the plans, studies, and promises over the years, we are still confronting the same challenge. The location may have changed, the players may be different, but the story remains largely the same. Again, we are reminded that there is nothing more expensive than refusing to solve a problem when we had the chance.