Cebu City will have to make do with their existing landfill until Wednesday next week, when all their garbage will be dumped in Consolacion town.
Councilor Edu Rama said the operator of a private garbage facility in Pulog, Consolacion, asked to postpone delivery of the city’s garbage to give them more time for preparation.
Rama said the postponement would also allow Cebu City officials to discuss with their Mandaue City counterparts a plan to use their roads in transporting Cebu City garbage to Consolacion town.
The Mandaue City Council passed a resolution that prohibits the entry of garbage-filled trucks into their city.
The Department of Public Services (DPS) deployed three dump trucks for a dry run of Cebu City’s garbage diversion program last Thursday.
But the dry run used the Talamban – Pit-os – Cabangahan and Pulog, Consolacion route to avoid using Mandaue City roads.
DPS head Dionisio Gualiza proposed three routes for the garbage diversion program.
One is through the Talamban – Pit-os road while the second route will pass by the national highway in Mandaue City to travel to the neighboring Consolacion town.
The third route passes by north Coastal Road in Mandaue City before making a left turn at the Liloan church then to Pulog, Consolacion.
Rama said the dry runs will continue until Wednesday.
Mayor Michael Rama earlier planned to have the Inayawan landfill closed starting today.
But the city had yet to draft a landfill closure plan, which is a requisite in the issuance of a closure order by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Councilor Rama said since a total closure of the Inayawan landfill was not yet possible, the mayor wanted to instead implement a “cessation order,” which would already cease activities inside the landfill.
Councilor Rama said the garbage diversion program would cost the city at least P12 million for three months of disposal from October to December.
Operators of the Pulog facility charge a tipping fee of P700 per ton of garbage disposed.
However, the city may avail of a 50 percent discount if they can dump 200 tons of garbage or more each day.
Yesterday afternoon the mayor met barangay officials to explain to them the city’s garbage diversion plans.
Councilor Rama, who attended the meeting, said southern barangay officials were mostly concerned with the mediocre condition of their trucks and the distance they would have to travel to Pulog, Consolacion.
Councilor Rama said barangay officials were asked to use their existing trucks in the diversion program.
They could also borrow dump trucks from the engineering department in case they would need more. The city’s 80 barangays have 135 garbage trucks of which only 96 are in running condition.
Councilor Rama said the bigger barangays have two to three garbage trucks each.
DPS for its part has 20 garbage trucks with only 15 to 17 in good running condition.