Cebu LGUs told to segregate, build more MRFs

WITH Cebu dumping 1.2 million kilograms of garbage last year, local officials were told to set up material recovery facilities (MRFs) and intensify waste segregation in their respective areas.

Rhica Evilla, chief of the Solid Waste Management Division of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro), said they are identifying potential MRF sites in the province.

An MRF segregates garbage and recycles them for use in producing useful materials.

The data stemmed from the Waste Characteristics and Analysis Study conducted by Penro from January to October last year.

The study covered 50 local governments in Cebu excluding the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

Talisay City dumps the most garbage a day at 95,610 kilograms followed by Consolacion town at 74,400 kilograms of trash a day and Toledo City at 71,000 kilograms per day.

Tudela town on Camotes Island produces the least volume of trash at 2,168 kilograms a day.

“We’re waiting on the EMB (Environmental Management Bureau) to issue us the documents to start developing MRFs,” Evilla said.

She said the provincial government allocated P40 million from the governor’s office or P800,000 each to the 50 Cebu local governments to fund their solid waste management programs.

Evilla said their work on developing a landfill facility at a 17-hectare site in Barangay Dauis Sur in Carmen town, northeastern Cebu, may start anytime this year.

Acting Penro chief Jayson Lozano said they ended their geodetic surveying last week.

The survey determined which portions of the barangay will be affected by the landfill.

The proposed landfill site was bought by the province during the time of former governor and now Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s province.
Once built, the landfill will service wastes from northern Cebu towns, Lozano said.

Lozano also called on Cebu residents and visitors to practice waste segregation in order to minimize garbage volume.