The Cebu City government gave six septic waste hauling firms until July 15 to deposit waste at Inayawan landfill while they finished the construction of their own septage treatment plant.
Councilor Edu Rama, who chairs the city’s solid waste management board authorized the extension, said Randy Navarro head of Inayawan landfill.
The haulers have been making their own treatment facility since the South Road Properties (SRP) management declined to receive septic waste.
The landfill can only process lechates and not sludge, Navarro said.
Mayor Michael Rama earlier ordered the landfill closed to septic waste last June 1 after a Department of Environment and Natural Resources test showed that waste water from the dumpsite has been polluting the Mactan Channel.
Navarro said the septic hauling company of Bonifacio Cabras is building a small treatment facility, which will cater to a truck load of septic waste.
A treatment facility that can accommodate two to three truckloads of septic waste would cost at least P1.2 million.
Navarro said the owners of the septic haulers has just bought materials in Cebu City to construct their treatment facilities.
He added that the DENR still has to check the treatment facilities to ensure that they pass the standards for septic pollutants.