‘Cebu City can learn from Mandaue on enforcing plastic ban’

GARGANERA

CEBU City can perhaps learn a thing or two from Mandaue City on how to enforce a citywide plastic ban.

So said Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera who went to a shopping mall in Mandaue City and saw for himself how the plastic ban was implemented.

“I want to know how they handle it so that we will be equipped on how to go about it. This is a matter of educating the public too,” he told reporters in yesterday’s 888 News Forum.

Garganera said the biggest challenge in implementing the plastic ban is in Cebu City’s wet market and eateries.

He said he visited San Francisco town on Camotes Islands which also implements a plastic ban since 2004. 

“Their dumpsite is residual waste and if you check their materials recovery facility (MRF), it’s like a park (clean). You can bring your children there,” Garganera said.

Engr. William Cuñado, director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-7), said the Cebu City government only partially complied with the requirements set for the Inaywan landfill. 

“There is a soil covering. But the question is the performance and how big the area they have covered. There is protective equipment but they have not used it. There are deodorizers but the foul smell is still there. How do you assess that?” Cuñado said.

The regional EMB identified 13 violations by the Cebu City government on the Inayawan landfill.

Among the violations include the failure to secure discharge permit to check if the effluents conform with the standards set by the EMB as well as failure to strictly enforce personal protective equipment for workers.

Cuñado said the violations provided sufficient ground to revoke the landfill’s environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

A multipartite monitoring committee that included the EMB was tasked to monitor the city’s corrections of the violations.