Groups hail QC landfill closure, but…

While environmental groups hailed the impending closure of the Payatas landfill in Quezon City, they took exception to proposals calling for the use of incinerators or the dumping of trash in other landfills in Metro Manila.

“The permanent closure of the Payatas garbage dumpsite is long overdue. It’s time barangay-based ecological solid waste management (ESWM) be fully implemented by all local government units” in compliance with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, Joey Papa, president of Bangon Kalikasan Movement, said in a statement on Monday.

Section 37 of the law states that dumps should have been closed in 2004 and controlled dumps in 2006, Papa added. It also calls for waste avoidance and volume reduction through segregation at source, composting, recycling, reuse and other best practices in ESWM, excluding open burning and incineration.

In an earlier statement, the Quezon City government expressed plans to close the landfill by the end of the year as it has almost reached its carrying capacity limit. The city’s garbage haul reaches an estimated 2,700 tons per day, requiring the deployment of around 500 trucks.

Earlier, city officials asked the government for help in finding other dumping sites.

“But Quezon City residents must be vigilant in opposing the plan to establish an incinerator plant to replace the dump,” Papa said, adding that burning waste generates dangerous byproducts such as ash residue.

“Some 30 tons of ash are produced for every 100 tons of garbage incinerated. We cannot allow such toxic ash to get dumped in Payatas, which is so near La Mesa Dam and watershed reservation,” he said.

Daniel Alejandre, Zero Waste campaigner for EcoWaste Coalition, also rejected plans to haul garbage to sanitary landfills in Navotas City and in Rodriguez and San Mateo towns in Rizal province.

“The only thing it does is to keep the ugly trash out of our sight, out of our minds, for Quezon City residents, that is, while further destroying another community where it will be dumped,” he said.