3,300 trucks of waste removed from Boracay

ILOILO CITY — Tons of waste at a dump in Boracay had been hauled off to mainland Aklan province amid threats of criminal cases against local officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The last of at least 20,000 cubic meters (the load of about 3,300 dump trucks) of residual waste was removed from the materials recovery facility (MRF) in the village of Manoc-Manoc on July 16, according to Ivene Reyes, provincial environment and natural resources officer of Aklan.

The waste was transported by barge to the municipal sanitary landfill in the village of Cabulihan in Malay town.

The DENR had given the local government of Malay until July 17 to remove garbage at the Boracay MRF or face charges of violating Republic Act No. 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000).

The MRF had served as the main dump of the three Boracay villages of Balabag, Manoc-Manoc and Yapak.

The DENR noted that the MRF had turned into a permanent dump instead of just a processing facility for recyclable and residual waste.