Since the start of operation of the Alburquerque Cluster Sanitary Landfill (ACSLF) in April 2017, more than 376.178 tons of residual wastes have been successfully disposed of by seventeen municipalities and one city in Bohol.
According to data furnished to the Chronicle by Juliet T. Birao, Weigh Bridge Clerk of the ACSLF, the town of Baclayon emptied the biggest volume of residual waste in nine months reaching 75.960 tons followed by Panglao getting rid of 61.360 tons and the host town, Alburquerque with 41.460 tons.
FALLING BEHIND
However, among the top three biggest daily residual waste generators, Tagbilaran City lags behind Baclayon and Panglao in the disposal of its residual trash with 23.680 tons.
Tagbilaran City failed to dispose of its residual waste this month even as Panglao and Baclayon regularly junked their garbage for nine months.
Both Panglao and Tagbilaran City operates open dump sites ordered closed by the Environmental Management Office (EMB).
LACKING EQUIPMENT
Lack of garbage trucks to transport the waste from Tagbilaran City to the ACSLF is the main reason for the reported lesser volume, admitted Joselito Taladua, Officer-in-Charge of the Solid Waste Management Office when interviewed by the Chronicle.
“We have also run out of cement bags used to fill with residual waste that would weigh 80 kilos more or less,” added Taladua.
Mounting volume of undelivered residual wastes to the ACSLF is now piling up at the transfer station in Dampas, according to Taladua.
NO ORDINARY TRASH
Residual waste is defined as a type of waste with no commercial value, meant for disposal, cannot be sold and considered useless. Examples of these types of wastes are cigarette butts, diapers/napkins, plastic sachets etc.
The ACSLF will not accept direct garbage disposal and will require all garbage trucks to secure a certificate that the garbage to be disposed of were inspected by personnel of the municipal transfer stations.
Each municipality will dump their residual wastes once a week with Tagbilaran City and are given the option to dispose of their wastes more than once a week in consideration to the volume of their trash.
A tipping fee of PhP1,300.00/ton of residual waste dumped in the ACSLF as agreed by the Cluster Board headed by Alburquerque Mayor Elpren Tungol.
The 6.9-hectare ACSLF has an estimated 18-year lifespan and the final disposal site of an estimated 39,317 kilograms of daily residual waste from the 17 clustered municipalities and one city.
RESIDUAL WASTE ONLY
According to the Waste Assessment and Characterization Study (WACS) conducted by the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) in 2015, daily residual waste produced by the 17 cluster members was 39,317 kilograms.
The top three biggest daily residual waste generators are Tagbilaran City – 9452, Baclayon – 8,820 and Panglao – 3,510.
Dauis – 3,241, Loon – 2,983, Maribojoc – 1,604, Calape, 1575, Loboc – 1,444, Corella – 970, Dimiao – 914, Balilihan – 832, Antequera – 830, Loay – 803 and Sikatuna – 790.
The towns of Lila – 185, Cortes – 617 and Alburquerque – 747 rounded up the bottom of the 16 towns that generated the least residual waste.
Catigbian was not included in the WACS since they decided to join the cluster after its operation.
REGULAR DISPOSAL
According to data furnished to the Chronicle by Birao, fourteen towns including Tagbilaran dispose of their wastes once a week with Baclayon, Maribojoc, and Alburquerque doing their rounds daily.
At the start of operations in April, twelve cluster towns dumped 18.330 tons of waste that steadily increased to 49.030 tons in August, dipped to 40 tons the next month and reached its highest at 74.030 tons with this month registering 64.610 tons.
Alburquerque, Corella, Cortes, Dauis, and Loon regularly followed their schedules for nine months while Lila, Dimiao, and Catigbian apparently disposed of their wastes as their needs arise.
Loboc dumped 880 kilos of residual waste in September and December only and Calape disposed of one ton in October for the whole nine-month period.
VINDICATED
The long, controversial road to approval of the PhP300 million ACSLF was finally achieved after the Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) – Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 gave their go-ahead for the operation of the first cluster sanitary landfill in the country.
A “Notice to Proceed” for the full operation of the ACSLF was issued on March 30, 2017, and was signed by Engr. Anecita Q. Dinoy, Officer in Charge of the Office of the EMB Regional Director.
Former Mayor Engr.Efren Tungol, under whose term the ACSLF was conceptualized, constructed and completed showed the Chronicle the site which is now partly filled with the more than 376 tons of residual waste from the 18 cluster members.
Now the municipal consultant for Engineering and Infrastructure, Tungol made sure that the common complaints of the stench emanating from landfills is totally absent from the site by applying the latest environmental technology and innovations in landfill operations.
“This landfill is now the center of tourism, academic and community activity of our town with a recent wedding ceremony and study tour by students of the Engineering Department of Dela Salle University,” a beaming Tungol said.
The ACSLF was conceptualized pursuant to section 44 of Republic Act (RA) 9003 known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 ” and section 33 of RA 7160 known as the “Local Government Code” mandating the establishment of common wastes disposal facilities.
Facing strong opposition from the community and plagued by more than 10 years of numerous social, legal, political and environmental issues that hounded its construction, Governor Edgar Chatto hailed the operation of the ACSLF as the
“fulfillment of a concept hatched more than 10 years ago seeking a collaborative effort to meet the waste disposal needs of the province in the next 20 years.”
Chatto who was then the chair of the Committee on Tourism in Congress lined up the financial grant for the ACSLF with the defunct Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), the forerunner of the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA). (Chito M. Visarra)