Landfill closure plan first, Cebu City council urged

CEBU City should first complete a landfill closure plan before it starts considering adopting waste to energy technology in the Inayawan sanitary landfill, an ecology lawyer said yesterday.

During the City Council session, lawyer Gloria-Estenzo Ramos said a landfill closure plan will spell out the city’s programs to address solid waste.

“A waste-to-energy technology will only be applicable when there is already a system in place,” Ramos said in a public hearing held to discuss the proposal of Greenergy Solutions Inc. (GSI).

The private firm is proposing a 25-year waste-to-energy project in Cebu City that would process raw garbage at the landfill to produce electricity and useful byproducts.

The P4-billion project is proposed on a build-operate-transfer scheme at no cost to the city.

GSI president Bernardo Thadeo said they plan to clear the landfill’s wastes in four to seven years using anaerobic digestion, “not incineration” in order to produce methane.

Thadeo said the process is commonly used in European countries.

GSI chairperson Ruth Briones said GSI is partnering with Endesa Carbono, a private electricity company in Latin America that earlier partnered with Philbio for a waste to energy project during the administration of former mayor Tomas Osmeña.

But the project was never implemented after Endesa rescinded its contract with Philbio.

Engr. Zenia Lazaro of Endesa Carbono said they are now partnering with GSI in hopes of pursuing the landfill waste to energy project with the council’s approval.

When asked by Councilor Margot Osmeña if GSI has a track record to show in implementing a waste-to-energy project, Briones admitted there was none.

But she said GSI has business partners that already implemented such projects.

Some ecology advocates held a rally at the City Hall grounds to oppose the project which they suspect to be an incinerator.

The City Solid Waste Management Board is asking council approval on the project.

But Ramos said the city should first come up with a landfill closure plan and campaign for massive segregation at the barangay level before adopting any technology for its solid waste management program.

She said the city government also has to acquire an air quality monitor.

“We simply don’t have the guidepost (closure plan) for projects in the future,” Ramos said.

Ramos also asked the council to require the board about the absence of the landfill closure plan.

Rama earlier said Councilor Nida Cabrera should have been actively involved in preparin the plan due to her expertise.

Cabrera, a former barangay Luz captain who pursued waste segregation in her barangay, chaired the council’s environment committee.