NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
The province’s lone sanitary landfill in Albuquerque town will finally close on Tuesday for a 15-day rehabilitation.
Albur Mayor Don Ritchie Buates confirmed to the Chronicle that the landfill will be closed from accepting garbage from the 17 cluster towns availing of the landfill services.
Buates cited that part of the works during closure is “covering the volume of residual waste accumulated from disposal for the past years getting beyond manageable level.”
The mayor said the suspension of its operation until March 24 is for the best interest of preserving the integrity as well as the health of the people and environment threatened by open uncovered residual waste.
He further explained that the temporary closure is his inherent obligation being the operator to ensure safety among workers, and surrounding population.
CITY’S ACTION ON VITAL ISSUES
City Mayor Jane Yap said the city which holds the biggest volume of waste disposed at the Albur landfill has prepared contingency operation upon the landfill’s closure on Tuesday.
Manager, Engr. Raul Aparicio said that in coordination with DENR EMB 7, the multi-purpose shed will be used as temporary Residual Containment Area (RCA) making sure that the residual waste is stored in a rainproof area.
He said once the residual waste is collected in each household from the barangay, personnel from the central MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) specifically the waste collector and sorter will load this waste to a toner bags and place it directly to the temporary RCA.
Constituents and establishments are advised to minimize generating waste especially plastics as estimated by SWM Office could accommodate up to 14 days.
The city will deploy heavy equipment to be placed in our Central MRF to fast track its operation in placing and arranging the toner bags loaded with residual waste to the Temporary RCA, Aparicio added.
A coordination meeting was conducted on January 20, 2025 to prepare for the temporary closure of the SLF with instruction to establish a temporary Residual Containment Area (RCA) for the storage of the residual waste.