Dagupan households, businesses pay garbage fees

DAGUPAN CITY — This city has the highest percentage of households and commercial establishments paying for garbage collection services in a survey conducted by the World Bank (WB) and the Build-Operate Transfer Center of the Department of Trade and Industry in six places nationwide.

Reginaldo Ubando, chief of the Waste Management Division here, told The STAR that the survey result was released last Oct. 24. It was the first study made so far by the said agencies to "identify alternative collection mechanism and recommend the best possible structure for local government units imposing user charges for solid waste management activities".

Before, only business establishments were charged garbage fees but now there is a need to expand it to households, Ubando said.

The study will explore the possibility of privatizing waste management, he said.

Ubando said 97.40 percent of households and 92 percent of commercial establishments surveyed in Dagupan City are paying for garbage collection services.

As to people’s willingness to pay garbage collection services, the percentage of those who said yes was also highest in Dagupan at 96 percent. Calamba followed at 79.3, Cebu, 75; Roxas, 46.2; General Santos, 83.3; and Panabo, 92.

The STAR learned that the city used to collect about 400 cubic meters per day of garbage but this was reduced to 80 to 100 cubic meters per day when garbage collection and segregation was turned over to the 31 barangays in October last year.