Tarlac urged: Open landfill to other Central Luzon towns

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) is urging the Tarlac provincial government to allow other towns in Central Luzon to deposit their wastes at the state-of-the-art sanitary landfill in Capas town amid the worsening garbage problem in the region.

The NSWMC, which is under the Office of the President, has issued a resolution asking the Tarlac provincial government to reconsider its stand on restricting wastes dumped at the Capas landfill only to those coming from Tarlac and the Clark special economic zone.

Some 100 hectares have been allocated for the landfill, of which five hectares are now being used for wastes from Capas and Bamban, another Tarlac town, and the Clark ecozone.

Capas officials and residents initially objected to the project, but later relented on condition that use of the landfill would be limited.

They changed their mind after they were briefed about the modern technology to be used by the landfill developer, the German consortium of Ingeeierburo Birkhahn and Nolte and Heers and Brockstedt (BN-HB)

The initial phase of the landfill project was designed to accommodate 1,500 metric tons of wastes daily. Since January, only some 15 metric tons of wastes from Bamban and about 85 metric tons from the Clark ecozone have been dumped there daily.

Officials of the Metro Clark Wage Management Corp. (MCWMC), which operates the landfill, said Capas has not made use of the landfill.

The MCWMC, however, said wastes from Metro Manila would definitely not be allowed at the landfill.

The NSWMC resolution, signed by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun who chairs it, noted that the "fully engineered sanitary landfill in Tarlac conforms to national and international standards."

"Based on its first three months of operations, it only receives 100 metric tons (of wastes) per day. The MCWMC’s operations will no longer be viable with the present volume of waste they are receiving," it stated.

It said many local governments outside of Tarlac "are in need of a sanitary disposal site that would comply with existing environmental standards." Most towns in Central Luzon use open dumps.

The Bamban municipal government is not being charged any fee for dumping its wastes at the landfill in Barangay Kalangitan, but Clark companies pay P1,000 per metric ton of wastes.

The NSWMC reminded Tarlac officials that the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 or Republic Act 9003 was enacted "to provide for an ecologically sound solid waste management system, creating necessary institutional mechanisms and incentives, declaring certain prohibited acts, providing penalties, and appropriating funds thereof."

The commission asked Tarlac officials to assist the MCWMC "sustain" its landfill operations by encouraging all local governments in Tarlac to immediately implement RA 9003, segregate their wastes at source, compost and recycle and bring their residual waste to the Clark sanitary landfill.

It also urged Tarlac officials to allow the landfill to receive residual wastes from local governments outside the Clark ecozone and Tarlac.

German engineer Holger Holst of BN-HB said his company has invested some P280 million for the initial phase of the landfill project. The second phase, to be developed next year, would cover another five hectares.

Albert Magalang, NSWMC executive director Albert Magalang, said he plans to duplicate the Clark landfill project for Metro Manila, saying it is "the only one of its kind in the country."

"The Clark sanitary landfill is the best alternative to waste disposal," he said, noting that by 2006, controlled dumps, which are now commonly resorted to by local governments nationwide, would be considered illegal.

Holger said the landfill’s initial phase could accommodate as much as 350,000 cubic meters of assorted wastes.

"By the third or fourth year, enough wastes would have been accumulated to produce gas that could operate a five- to eight-megawatt power plant here," he said.