BAGUIO CITY-- The city government has spent over PHP1 billion in a span of more than nine years to haul its garbage to various sanitary landfills in Tarlac and in Pangasinan.
Dexter See of the city information office on Monday said the continuous hauling of garbage from the city to the various sanitary landfills in Pangasinan and in Tarlac is “to prevent the occurrence of a garbage crisis in the city which might ruin its identity as one of the preferred destinations in the country.”
He said that the city government is looking for a more lasting solution to the garbage problem as the hauling cost has drained the city’s coffers for almost a decade.
Reiterating the mayor’s statement, See said the city government “continues to be aggressive in finding lasting solutions to our garbage disposal problems that is why we are setting our sights to the conversion of the former Antamok open pit site to a waste-to-energy facility which will put an end to the expensive hauling of garbage to the sanitary landfill in Tarlac.”
The construction of Itogon’s temporary residual containment area within a portion of the Antamok open pit site is underway, he said. There are also plans to convert the open pit area to a waste-to-energy facility.
See said the Antamok waste-to-energy facility is still in the drawing board and the proposed Sto. Tomas landfill is still being cleared from claimants.
For the road system to be in place, the most feasible mode of disposing the city’s residual waste is through the hauling of waste outside the city to prevent the generated trash from piling up in the transfer station and the pick-up points in the different barangays.
He also said that the city’s partner, Goldrich Natural Exploration and Development corporation, is still selecting its technology provider for the proposed waste-to-energy plant in the Antamok open pit site.
Baguio city generates 402 tons daily of waste being transported to private sanitary landfill in Tarlac and to a local government-run in Pangasinan, said See. SM, Camp John Hay, Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Baguio Country Club handle its own waste disposal system, he added. (PNA)
Bilog said some of the inputs gathered during the summit will be subject to legislative actions by the city council while those already covered by laws but need revitalization will be referred to concerned agencies for immediate action. (PNA)
