Rizal mayor to MMDA: More trash, please

Rodriguez, Rizal Mayor Pedro Cuerpo is calling on the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to dump more garbage at his town’s dump to feed its newly inaugurated methane power plant.

We encourage the MMDA to dump Metro Manila’s around 8,000 metric tons of garbage because we are willing to accommodate that volume of trash,” he said.

He said at present, the MMDA is dumping only 2,000 metric tons of garbage daily at the landfill.

“For the first time in Philippine history, a sanitary landfill will be a major player among independent power producers and a model for pollution-reduction development projects in Asia,” Cuerpo said.

He reiterated that the MMDA will pay only P360 instead of P600 as “tipping fee” each time one of its garbage trucks deliver trash to the dump. 

Cuerpo said the 40 percent discount translates into an annual savings of P700 million for the MMDA, which can use the money for urban renewal, including cleaning up creeks, canals, and rivers; landscaping and beautification drives; and more efficient collection of garbage.

“We will recoup the 40 percent discount from our recovery of recyclables such as plastic, bottles, and paper products through more-cost effective direct administration of the landfill and through earning from the methane-fed power plant.”

President Arroyo was the special guest at the launching Thursday of the Montalban methane power plant in Rodriguez town in Rizal.

The Montalban methane power plant – a P1.65-billion build-own-operate project of the Montalban Methane Power Corp. – will capture the landfill gases, particularly methane, from the dump to produce electricity enough to provide electricity to 15,000 households.

The power plant is expected to generate nine to 19 megawatts of electricity over a period of 10 years, starting this month.

The plant also qualifies as an emission-curbing project under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism and assures the country of at least 500,000 certified emission reductions (CER) or “carbon credits” through its methane recovery operation.

The plant has the United Kingdom as its largest investor to help the Philippines reduce its dependence on conventional sources of energy, Cuerpo said. – Non Alquitran