Close the open dumps

OPEN dumps, where piles of all sorts of household and commercial garbage are thrown into, are in every town and city in Pangasinan.

These are, at the very least, unsightly and smelly. On the surface, they serve as breeding grounds for bacteria, mosquitoes, flies and rodents that cause or carry diseases. They pose the risk of fire and explosion and the practice of burning puts both people and the environment at risk with the toxic gases that are released.  A deeper and not immediately visible threat is the contamination of soil and groundwater, which households use for their domestic water supply. The juice of the unsorted garbage that people nonchalantly throw into the open dumps are slowly but surely seeping into the water that come out of our hand-pumps and faucets. The seepage also affects our rivers, streams and lakes. Open dumps, in a nutshell, are not just plain ugly but are a major danger to nature and the community.

Open dumps are illegal and local government unit heads are in fact liable to both administrative and criminal charges for failing to implement Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

The local government units have already been given sufficient time to comply with the law, which calls for the closure of all open dumpsites within three years after the effectivity of the law. The law was signed in January 2001; by February 2004, open dumpsites should have already been converted to controlled dumpsites; and by February 2006, the controlled dumpsites should have already been phased out and replaced with sanitary landfills. Yet to this day, the open dumps remain everywhere.

Notably, only the city of Urdaneta is on its way to fully complying with the law with the expected completion and operation of its sanitary landfill by July this year. Kudos to outgoing Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr. who is leaving such a crucial and long-term legacy.

Now, Governor Amado Espino Jr., who has received a fresh mandate from Pangasinenses, must act on the continued violation of towns and cities of the law on solid waste management.

The provincial government must now step into the picture to craft a provincial strategy to cope with the worsening garbage disposal problem in Pangasinan.

Without managing the province’s trash, the provincial government’s grand vision for Pangasinan would come to naught.

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