City’s garbage volume dropped by 18 percent

CEBU, Philippines — With the implementation of the “no segregation, no collection” policy by the Cebu City government, the volume of collected garbage has decreased by 18 percent.

Former city councilor Nida Cabrera, the incoming Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) head, told reporters they are strictly enforcing the policy in order to lessen the city’s garbage hauling expenses and in compliance with Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act.

“Actually expected na kay ang atoang effort sad sa segregations mao man gyud na’y makita nato nga maka-reduce sa atong volume of waste. Unya nagsugod na sad ang CENRO sa mga projects.  Naa ta’y bottle recycling, ang plastics sad ila na sad gipangusgan,” she said.

The city used to generate 650 tons of garbage a day, but it has decreased to 530 tons, after the segregation policy was enforced.

Records showed that the Department of Public Services has saved P21 million under its miscellaneous fund for garbage collection account this year.  The savings is from the month of January to April 2018.

Under the policy, city residents must segregate their trash based on whether it is biodegradable, non-biodegradable, residual and special waste.

Biodegradable wastes are collected on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while non-biodegradable and residual wastes are gathered on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Special waste will be announced, since it will be handled separately by the Transporter and Treatment, Storage and Disposal facility registered with the Environmental Management Bureau-7.

Cabrera said Barangay Environmental Officers (BEOs) continued to issue citation tickets to the violators of the policy.

The violators would be slapped with a fine from P 500 to P3,000 depending on the nature of violation.

For the first offense, a fine of P500 or community service and P1,000 with a corresponding community service for the second offense will be imposed on violators.

A P3,000 fine and a community service will be imposed on the third time violators.

Cabrera said there are still villages in the city that are not compliant with the policy, such as Luz and Tisa.

“Although strong ang campaign ni Kap Phillip Zafra (Tisa village chief) pero naa gyud tungod sa mga residente nga gahi sad kaayo,” Cabrera said.

She agreed with Antonio Oposa, an environmental lawyer, who said that local government units should implement RA 9003 in order to address solid waste management problem.

“Dapat seryosohon gyud sa atoang mga barangays.  Sa akong giingon, duna na ta’y resulta sa study unsay epekto kun dili mag-segregate. Primary responsibility man gyud na sa atoang mga officials under Section 10 sa atong RA 9003,” she said.

Last Sunday, Oposa lauded the justices of the Court of Appeals for the issuance of a Writ of Kalisakan for the controversial landfill in Barangay Inayawan.

Cabrera said the city government will hold a seminar to the newly-elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials about RA 9003 on June 19 to 23, 2018 at the social hall. (FREEMAN)