Consortium offers garbage solution

A consortium of foreign firms offered government authorities yesterday a permanent solution to Metro Manila’s garbage disposal problem.

Jancom Environmental Corp., the local subsidiary of Vivendi and Alstom Power, the two principal partners of the consortium, said the solid waste processing facility it proposes to build will be similar to those being operated in most modern cities all over the world.

Vivendi operates over a hundred waste processing facilities and is considered the best provider of environmental services in the world while Alstom Power is known world-wide as a power generation specialist.

These facilities, according to Jancom, employ the most efficient system in the collection and disposal of waste, including segregation at source, sanitary transport, treatment, storage, recycling, and conversion into fertilizer or fuel.

"The entire operation involves all the specific guidelines set forth in the Solid Waste Management Act 2000 signed into law a few days ago by President Arroyo," said Jorge Mora, an official of Vivendi.

The plant, he said, will also construct strategically-located materials recovery facilities where raw garbage will be automatically sorted out, segregated, compacted and recycled, substantially cutting down collection and hauling cost of local government units.

He said the rest of the biodegradable materials will be compacted and used as fuel to generate electricity in the waste-to-energy plant.