DENR closes sanitary landfill in Calamba over ‘numerous’ ECC violations

MANILA, Philippines – A sanitary landfill (SLF) in Calamba Laguna was ordered closed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) over “numerous violations” of the terms and conditions of its environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

In a statement on Wednesday, the DENR said its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) issued a cease and desist order against the SLF, operated by S.B. Hain Enterprises and General Services Inc. after a facility inspection last July 13 found that it has violated nine out of 26 conditions in its ECC.

DENR Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Concerns Benny Antiporda said the closure order was issued “due to numerous violations of the terms and conditions of its ECC granted by the EMB.”

“We cannot allow the landfill and its operator to continuously harm the environment,” Antiporda said.

“The Calamba SLF will remain closed until violations are corrected,” he added.

The Calamba landfill is operating as a Category 4 SLF, which is the “highest category sanitary landfill and biggest in terms of capacity,” according to the DENR.

This means that it is allowed to accommodate residual waste of less than or equal to 250 metric tons per day and is permitted to put up to five units of landfill cells connected to a leachate collection and treatment pond.

But a team of EMB inspectors found that the operators failed to install working drainage and leachate treatment facility, the DENR said.

The team of inspectors also discovered that the landfill area was not lined with “high-density polyethylene,” a synthetic material required by the DENR to help keep leachate from seeping through soil preventing groundwater contamination.

Waste materials in the landfill were also reported to be “exposed and not covered,” which was a violation of the SLF’s ECC that states that at least six inches of soil are required to be “applied over the exposed waste at the end of each working day.”

The EMB team, likewise, noted that the Calamba SLF failed to present a monitoring report of the landfill’s treated liquid waste, which is required to ensure the facility’s compliance with DENR’s standards.

The Calamba SLF, located in Barangay Kay-Anlog, began its operations as a category one SLF in July 2018. It was later upgraded to a category four SLF in November 2019, according to the DENR. Jim Mendoza

JE