UN expert finds Ormoc landfill 'near perfect'

ORMOC CITY, Philippines — An international expert in waste management had rated the city's landfill today as "not perfect but almost there."

Ana Isabel Fonseca, a Portuguese working with MSB (a contingency agency of Sweden) of the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) told The Freeman, in an interview inside Mayor Edward Codilla's office, that Ormoc responded well in waste management.

Fonseca, who was already at the site during the early days after typhoon Yolanda, noted the significant improvement of the city's approach in solving the large volume of garbage, including the hazardous medical waste.

She specifically mentioned the 10 vents placed in strategic places with compacted aggregates to contain or collect hazardous gaseous substances as a good safety measure of the landfill.

UNDP has one excavator, one bulldozer and three dump trucks that has been helping in the landfill operation, on top of the technical expertise the group of  Fonseca had extended.

"Now it can be called a landfill, not a dumpsite," she declared while admiring the efforts of city officials by saying, "They did it well."

Fonseca also warned the public not to loiter in the area despite its safe status. She further reminded the hospitals and other medical facilities on waste segregation to avoid contamination of harmful chemicals and other hazardous waste that may affect workers, residents near the landfill and its environs.

The city government has been on guard to ensure safety of scavengers and children who might wander into the dump, especially dump trucks carrying sharp objects, such as scrap iron sheets, metal objects and chemical containers. (FREEMAN)