MORE than 100 employees from the eight departments of Mandaue City Hall participated in the clean-up drive last Saturday.
More than 20 sacks of garbage, mostly plastic from the clogged up drainage in the fish section were retrieved by the employees of the General Services, City Engineering and Market departments who were assigned in the wet section, where stalls selling meat and fish are located.
The employees were divided into groups to clean their assigned areas in the market.
The employees of City Agriculture were tasked to clean the market’s surroundings, including cutting grasses.
The Clean and Green employees from barangay Centro, where the market stands, were assigned to clean the entrance and exit roads going to the market, while the City Council, together with the City Cooperative Office and City Veterinary Office were made to clean the dry goods area.
The city government has a total of 36 departments.
Musoline Suliva, market head, said the remaining 28 departments were also assigned to help in the cleanup drive.
Suliva said he will recommend to the market authority to regularize the cleanup every month.
At the same time, he vowed to penalize more vendors who indiscriminately throw their garbage.
He said other vendors and consumers still don’t heed the city’s anti-littering law. He said some 40 vendors were already issued with citation tickets and penalized with P500, in two weeks-time.
Suliva said at least two garbage bins are placed in each stall for biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes and four garbage bins in the different locations in the market.
Letters were also sent to the three vendors’ association asking them to participate in the clean-up drive.
The market produces eight tons of garbage every day, of which only four to six tons are collected due to improper waste segregation.
Biodegradable wastes are collected by the City Agriculture Office to be used as fertilizers. /REPORTER JUCELL MARIE CUYOS WITH MANDAUE NEWS SERVICE