The spectacle of tons of garbage emitting putrid smell from the 2.6 hectare open dumpsite in Barangay Dampas, Tagbilaran City will be a thing of the past beginning with the operation of the Alburquerque Cluster Sanitary Landfill (ACSLF) in Barangay Dangay, Alburquerque.
Lito Taladua, chief of the Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO) of the City of Tagbilaran told DYRD Balita that all of the residual waste estimated by the Bohol Environmental Management Office (BEMO) at 9,452 kilograms generated daily will be disposed at the ACSLF, 17 kilometers from the city.
The Dampas open dumpsite has been the disposal site for the more than 50 tons of daily municipal solid wastes and domestic wastes from 105,051 city residents
The dumpsite will be converted into an environmentally sound solid waste management facility in accordance with ecologically sustainable development principles.
Plans to construct an administration building, a bio-composting and final sorting facilities to ensure segregation, collection, transport, storage, treatment and disposal of solid wastes are now in the drawing board.
Disposal of the city’s residual wastes will start this week after 13 municipalities delivered their wastes during the five day dry run that started last week.
The city will be spending more than P12,000 a week after the ACSLF cluster board headed by Alburquerque Mayor Elpren Tungol agreed to peg the disposal or tipping fee at P1,300/ton.
According to Taladua, the ACSLF will only accept residual waste stuffed into sacks and will turn back garbage trucks carrying other types of wastes.
Residual waste is waste that remains after recycling, re-using and rotting and is the only garbage the ACSLF will accept.
Examples of residual wastes, among others, are sanitary napkins, disposable diapers, styropors, soiled tissue papers, sachets and candy wrappers.
Taladua called on the city residents to practice separation of different materials found in solid waste at their homes as mandated by RA 9003 known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
Segregation at source will reduce the volume of waste for collection and disposal, according to Taladua. (Chito M. Visarra and Rey Tutas)