New garbage collection sked starts Sunday

The Department of Public Services (DPS) announced the implementation of the new garbage collection schedule in Cebu City that will start tomorrow.

DPS assistant head John Paul Gelasque urged the public to heed the new schedule from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next day.

“Akong awhag sa publiko di pwede magpagawas sa ilang basura from 8 a.m to 4 p.m. Inig abot sa 5 p.m., puede na nila ibutang ang basura daplin sa dalan or designated nga lugar para kuhaon sa garbage truck (I urged the public not to bring their garbage outside from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. When it is already 5 p.m., they can put their garbage along the street or in designated areas where it will picked up by the garbage truck),” Gelasque said.

In order to fully implement the new garbage collection schedule, Gelasque said they tapped the assistance of Barangay Environmental Officers (BEOs).

Each barangay has three BEOs, but Gelasque said he wanted some BEOs in the mountain barangays to help the BEOs in the lowland.

He said he asked the help of former Cebu City councilor and now environmental consultant Nida Cabrera to utilize the BEOs in the mountain barangays to help enforce the new schedule and “No Segregation No Collection Policy” in downtown Cebu City.

“Ang basura sa mountain barangays dili kaayo daghan kumpara sa patag kay ang malata i-compost man nila. Mao na magpatabang mi sa bukid kay ang volume sa basura naa sa patag (The trash in the mountain barangays is not voluminous compared to that in the lowland because residents there would ‘compost’ the biodegradable ones),” Gelasque said.

The BEOs will give citation tickets to those violators.

However, they will not give tickets for the first two weeks of the implementation of the new schedule and the no segregation policy.

“Naa pa ta sa (We are still in the) adjustment period. Naa pay uban wa kahibaw sa bag-o nga schedule (Some are still not aware of the new schedule),” Gelasque said.

Meanwhile, city resident Tita Lunmarzonita Cabradilla said she does not have any problem with the new garbage collection schedule.

Cabradilla, who is from Barangay Guadalupe, said that as of the present garbage collection in their barangay is at 6 a.m.
She said penalizing those who do not segregate their garbage is a good move of the city government.

“Nag start naman mi og segregate sa among garbage pero ang problema kanang mga scavengers nga panghabwa-on sa plastic ang mga basura unya ikalat lang sa kalsada (We already started segregating our garbage but the problem is that the scavengers would scatter the garbage in the streets),” Cabradilla said.