Trash catastrophe

It was supposed to be a regular workday for those employed at the private landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City when one movement from the earth changed their lives in an instant. Close to 50 of them were trapped under rubble after a landslide occurred on Thursday. As of this writing, not even half them have been extricated. Imagine having no water and food for hours while holding on to dear life, hoping that rescue would come.

This landfill is familiar to me during its early days in the city. It was still owned by another company that made a deal with the city. For every ton of garbage they collected, the city pays. With a third-party contractor handling the city’s trash, it saves the local government the hassle of maintaining a dumpsite or employing individuals to work there. At first, it was fascinating as they introduced seemingly state-of-the-art facilities for waste disposal. However, the residents around them didn’t like their operation as the stench reached their homes, making it difficult to enjoy a meal.

In hindsight, I somehow guessed that this was bound to happen. Managing a sanitary landfill isn’t an easy job, especially when the residents themselves don’t fully understand the concept of waste segregation. Rubbish eligible for recycling often arrives already soaked, mixed, and soiled, making it impossible to reuse. The easiest solution has always been to dump everything together and call on trash pickers to scavenge whatever treasure they could find. It’s timely that the city is once again trying to reimplement waste segregation at the household level —an effort that has been done multiple times before, but never truly prospered.

What makes this incident even more painful is the realization that those trapped were not decision-makers. They were workers earning a living in an environment that has long been at risk. Landfills, no matter how “sanitary” they’re branded, will always be dangerous if pushed beyond capacity and poorly regulated. Mountains of trash don’t disappear; they pile up, shift, and eventually give way. For this case, it literally gave up.

I believe this incident is a wake-up call for Cebu City, especially with an environmentalist at the helm of its governance. Sustainability cannot just be a buzzword during press conferences or celebrations. It must reflect consistent policies, strict enforcement, and public cooperation. Waste management isn’t solely the responsibility of the city government or private contractors. It begins in our own homes, with how we consume, discard, and ignore what we throw away. The quarterly cleanups speak volumes of how we dispose of our trash. Go figure.

The tragedy in Binaliw should not fade into the news cycle as just another unfortunate accident. Lives were placed at risk because the trash business is lucrative. If we fail to learn from this, then the catastrophe goes beyond trash. As it is now, it seemingly becomes a failure of accountability, foresight, and compassion.