ABOUT 155 scavengers will be tapped by the Mandaue City government to help segregate the city’s garbage in a 1,000 square meter transfer station in a dry run scheduled next week.
The scavengers, excluding minors, will be guided by the employees in the dumpsite, Umapad dumpsite officer in charge Bobby Ranile said yesterday.
“So far they were okay about the arrangement because if we call meetings they are cooperative,” he said. The Umapad dumpsite started receiving segregated garbage from 27 barangays last January.
Ranile said they are still educating scavengers on segregating biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes.
He said they are monitoring the volume of waste dumped at the landfill.
Ranile said the scavengers will spare the city government the expense and trouble of hiring additional personnel.
He said the scavengers can also sell non-biodegradable products like plastic and glass bottles and cans.
Plastics that cannot be sold anymore will be reverted to plastic shredders for recycling.
The dumpsite won’t be accepting used batteries and other hospital waste like bandages with blood.
The P33 million, one-hectare sanitary landfill was built in 2010 and completed in December.
Ranile said the Umapad dumpsite will be converted to an eco park once the methane gas is removed five to 10 years from now.
Ranile said they will employ the Takakura method of composting in the dumpsite and have coordinated with the City Agriculture Office in the beautification of its road inside the dumpsite.
Ranile said they will also manufacture liquid fertilizer from the waste generated in the market’s fish section.
“Mayor Cortes has a lot of plans for the dumpsite,” he told Cebu Daily News. /Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos