11 October 2005
Dagupan desperate for dumpsite
UNCOLLECTED garbage is now piling up in the city one week after Dagupan’s overflowing open dumpsite in barangay Bonuan Boquig was finally closed.
Closure of the dumpsite was in accordance with the provision of Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act, said City Waste Management Officer Reginaldo Ubando as he appeared before the city council.
The act banned open dumpsites in all cities and municipalities in the country since the early part of this year.
Before the closure of the dumpsite, the city had already passed on the duty of collecting solid wastes to village officials who were allowed to charge P30 monthly from every household and to put up their own compost pits.
Ubando acknowledged that not all barangays however can provide themselves with compost pits where they will safely dispose solid wastes collected by them from the households.
For lack of compost pits in their area, some barangays are now actually burning their solid wastes – an act that is also prohibited by the Clean Air Act.
Ubando said without a dumpsite to put residual wastes in, the city is really in a very difficult situation, so everybody has to minimize waste generation and accumulation.
He said they can do this by segregating bio-degradable wastes and to be pushed to the compost pit.
To date, no alternative dumpsite appears in sight yet as the city’s plan to build a sanitary landfill on a 30-hectare lot it bought barangay Awai, San Jacinto is meeting tough opposition from residents there
Closure of the dumpsite was in accordance with the provision of Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act, said City Waste Management Officer Reginaldo Ubando as he appeared before the city council.
The act banned open dumpsites in all cities and municipalities in the country since the early part of this year.
Before the closure of the dumpsite, the city had already passed on the duty of collecting solid wastes to village officials who were allowed to charge P30 monthly from every household and to put up their own compost pits.
Ubando acknowledged that not all barangays however can provide themselves with compost pits where they will safely dispose solid wastes collected by them from the households.
For lack of compost pits in their area, some barangays are now actually burning their solid wastes – an act that is also prohibited by the Clean Air Act.
Ubando said without a dumpsite to put residual wastes in, the city is really in a very difficult situation, so everybody has to minimize waste generation and accumulation.
He said they can do this by segregating bio-degradable wastes and to be pushed to the compost pit.
To date, no alternative dumpsite appears in sight yet as the city’s plan to build a sanitary landfill on a 30-hectare lot it bought barangay Awai, San Jacinto is meeting tough opposition from residents there
