CEBU CITY, Philippines - With no alternative landfill site in place, about 10 barangays in Cebu City are implementing solid waste management to reduce the volume of garbage in the Inayawan sanitary landfill site.

Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival said barangays (villages) Apas, Budlaan, Hipodromo, Lorega, Tejero, Zapatera, Tisa, Sawang Calero and Binaliw already made significant progress in solid waste management.

The councilor disclosed this amid a proposal by the Cebu City Council to hire a private company to handle the city's waste management.

Archival said there is no company in Cebu that offers this service.

“For me, barangay-based garbage processing is the most effective way of managing solid wastes and so if I were to decide I would rather have it this way,” Archival said.

Archival said they are calling on barangay officials to spearhead garbage segregation and management among their constituents as part of the city's efforts to reduce pollution.

“(The more garbage dumped in the landfill, the more methane gas is produced) in the atmosphere which is a thousand times more hazardous than carbon dioxide,” Archival said.

Barangay Apas is a pilot barangay in Cebu City's north district for solid waste management.

Through barangay ordinance 003-08, Apas started its program on August 9 this year and continued since then.

Apas barangay Chairman Ramil Ayuman said they sought the cooperation of constituents including the Armed Forces Central Command (CentCom) in the project.

He said the best incentive they can offer to Apas residents under the project is the chance to have their own livelihood since they buy scrap materials from the homeowners.

While the main objective is to reduce waste, Ayuman said their goal is to entice residents to cooperate.

Even a small space of 1 meter by 20 meters could handle 3,000 kilos a day, enough to accommodate garbage from 6,000 households, Archival said.