Garbage collection resumes in Baguio after a week
By Donna Demetillo
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 00:18:00 07/27/2008
Filed Under: Waste Management & Pollution Control, Waste, Environmental Issues, Pollution
BAGUIO CITY -- GARBAGE COLLECTION in some parts of the city resumed after a week’s suspension that was triggered by a barricade put up by residents of two villages of Baguio and neighboring Tuba, Benguet, to prevent trucks from unloading trash at the Irisan dump here.
A large portion of the city dump was officially closed early this year to comply with national solid waste management regulations.
With the closure and with its own sanitary landfill far from completion, the city government has started negotiating for the use of sanitary landfills in Central Luzon.
Households and establishments here generate more than 100 metric tons of garbage daily.
Lawyer Peter Fianza, city administrator, said the workable solution now is to bring Baguio’s garbage to Capas, Tarlac, for which the city government will have to spend approximately P48,000 per trip.
Six trips are needed daily to haul the city’s garbage to the Tarlac landfill, he said. “Our immediate concern now is to look for a cheap dumping area,” he said.
He said local officials were also negotiating with some local governments in nearby Benguet and La Union to find a dump for the city’s garbage.
Garbage collection was suspended on July 14 after residents of Irisan and Tuba set up picket lines at the dump’s entrance, saying they feared the possibility of garbage cascading down their houses especially during the rainy season.
A mound of garbage, estimated by city officials to be as tall as 100 meters, had accumulated at the open dump since the 1970s. It looms precariously over several villages of Tuba, located below Barangay Irisan.
About 70 percent of the Irisan dump has been closed. City officials initially thought the remaining 30 percent open for dumping would hold for a year with proper segregation at source.
This area, however, is nearing its maximum capacity because many residents have failed to comply with garbage segregation.
Collection resumed in downtown Baguio on July 20 after city officials held dialogues with the protesting residents.
As a result of the non-collection, garbage had accumulated along major city streets, even in Baguio’s business district.
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