City’s waste segregation efforts cited
DAGUPAN CITY, Mar. 21 (PIA)— The efforts of the Dagupan City Waste Management Division (WMD), to sustain its waste segregation program and continue the rehabilitation of the city’s dumpsite did not go unnoticed by the environment department.
Leduina Co, director of Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO)-Pangasinan, lauded the efforts of the city’s WMD to closely adhere to the mandate of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
“We commend the city, particularly the Waste Management Division, on their initiative to reduce waste,” she said during the KBP Forum at the Philippine Information Agency office on Thursday.
The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, or R.A. 9003, mandates local government units to strictly implement waste segregation at source.
The WMD, the PENRO noted, that the strict implementation of ‘No Segregation, No Collection’ policy, where households and business establishments are required to separate recyclables from those that cannot be recycled (residuals) before these can be collected, worked wonders for the city.
Another provision of the law is the closure of dumpsites, which should be replaced by sanitary landfills.
The WMD partially complied with this requirement by converting part of the dumpsite located in Barangay Bonuan Gueset into an eco-tourism park.
According to the WMD, the area of the dumpsite has been reduced to 2.6 hectares from 4.6 hectares and now only receives residual wastes.
Meanwhile, Co urged the city government to intensify its campaign at reducing waste generation by enacting an ordinance to prohibit the use of plastics in the market, as other municipalities are already implementing.
She also encouraged the city to continue pursuing the construction of its own sanitary landfill, which should not necessarily be within the city.
“Sanitary landfill is the best solution for the city,” she stressed.
The city government bought a property in San Jacinto during the first term of Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, but the city reportedly lost its rights over the land after the Department of Agrarian Reform Arbitration Board upheld the claim of tenants over the land. (With report from MCA/ARRF/PIA))
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