WASTE MANAGEMENT. Waste Management Division (WMD) chief Bernard Cabison shows the two-decades-old rotating composting drums and the new machines which can accommodate bigger volume of garbage and process at a shorter time compared to the old machines. The local government of Dagupan City has acquired two new rotating drums for WMD composting of biodegradable garbage coming from the public markets and from the barangays. (Photo by Liwayway Yparraguirre)
DAGUPAN CITY – Mayor Marc Brian Lim said private garbage haulers will have access to the Clark sanitary landfill for the disposal of wastes from local government units, including this city, that have existing contracts with the Urdaneta City sanitary landfill.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) recently closed the Urdaneta City sanitary landfill due to several violations.
“No interruption of services of private haulers and there will be no additional obligation on the city. We were given assurance by DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda when we had a meeting with him,” Lim said in an interview on Wednesday.
Antiporda called for a meeting of all the private haulers of garbage from different localities which have a contract with Urdaneta City, he said.
Meanwhile, 80 percent of the old garbage in Dagupan City’s dumpsite has already been removed.
In a separate interview, Waste Management Division chief Bernard Cabison said four trucks regularly haul garbage from the dumpsite.
The city has partnered with a private hauling company which had an agreement with Urdaneta City landfill for the task.
The DENR-EMB issued a cease and desist order on March 5 for the closure of the sanitary landfill here due to several violations.
In a recent interview, EMB Ilocos regional director Dorica Hipe said the landfill has violated the Clean Water Act upon the recommendation of the Pollution Adjudication Board, as well as the Presidential Decree 1586 or the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement, and the Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
“The violation under RA 9003 is the operation of an open dumpsite. Although it is a sanitary landfill, what happened is that they just dumped the wastes and it was no longer being managed. It is no longer based on the operation of a sanitary landfill that it has become an open dumpsite,” she said.
Hipe said it has also violated the Clean Water Act as the analysis on its water sample exceeded the effluent standard and the water pollution violation. (PNA)
