City mulls suit vs 12 brgys without waste-sorting centers

TWELVE Mandaue City barangays will be charged with violation of the Solid Waste Management Act if they will not set up Material Recovery Facilities (MRF).

Barangays Looc, Umapad, Opao, Tipolo, Maguikay, Tingob, Paknaan, Centro, Subangdaku, Tawason, Basak and Cabangcalan have no reason not to set up MRFs since the city government gave each barangay P100,000 to establish the waste sorting centers, said lawyer Benjamin Cabrido, the city’s environment consultant.

“The MRFs have been required of them a long time ago,” he said.

The barangay officials will be given a notice to comply within 30 days, Cabrido said.

Appropriate charges will be filed against them if they do not comply within a month.

Engineer Ricardo Mendoza of the mayor’s management team said the barangays already identified areas where they would put up their MRFs.

They already have MRF designs based on barangay population and waste characterization of the barangays, he said.

Barangays Tipolo and Maguikay, however, still have problems on road right of way.

The presence of MRFs in some barangays has reduced the amount of garbage thrown in the Umapad dumpsite from 270 metric tons to 120 metric tons per day, he said.

Each barangay is responsible for collecting household waste while the city’s garbage trucks are in charge of collecting residual waste, Cabrido said.

Barangay captains are primarily responsible for setting up MRFs, where biodegradable waste is prepared for composting and nonbiodegradable waste is grouped into recyclables and reusables.

Cabrido said if all barangays followed the solid waste management law, only residual waste would need to be thrown in the dumpsite.

The city has 174 “eco-wardens” and will tap barangay tanods to monitor the setting up and maintenance of MRFs, said Flash Jerusalem, point person for the enforcement of the solid waste management law.