Avoid the yellow trash bag, residents told

Personnel from Lapu-Lapu’s City Environment and Natural Resources Office ( Cenro) continue to collect more hospital wastes from the Mactan Channel and place them inside yellow garbage bags.  The color yellow means the garbage bags contain hazardous waste, but on few people know about this, said Araceli Barlam, head of the Mandaue City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro). / photo courtesy of Lapu-Lapu City PIO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The yellow trash bag is not for you to have business with.

The health and environment offices of Mandaue City cautioned residents living near the facility of Davao City Environment Care Inc. (DCECI) in Barangay Umapad to keep away from the yellow trash bags that they may find surrounding the establishment.

Architect Araceli Barlam, officer-in-charge of the Mandaue City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro), said they have inspected and investigated DCECI’s treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facility following the reports of floating hospital wastes in the seas off Lapu-lapu City on Mactan Island.

DCECI is the lone company authorized to collect and dispose of  hospital wastes produced by medical facilities in Mandaue City. It is accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which, only last week, has recommended that the company be meted a P250,000 fine because the hospital wastes that it was supposed to have disposed of properly ended up floating on Mactan’s water.

Barlam said they became more concerned since most of the residents did not know that the trash placed in the yellow plastic bags were  deemed dangerous.

The yellow garbage bags are used to identity that its content as  biohazard wastes coming from hospitals.

But apparently, most of the residents around the DCECI facility were not aware of this danger, said Barlam.

“Pila nato ang kahibawo unsa ang pasabot sa yellow nga plastic bag? Not all of us know and the residents think nga okay ra na ang yellow nga plastic until karon nga naabot ni nga issue,” Barlam said in a press briefing on Monday.

The treatment facility of DCECI is near the old dumpsite that has already been ordered closed by the city government in 2017.

Barlam said the DCECI management even admitted to their team that they sell used yellow trash bags because those were already “clean and treated.”

Dr. Edna Seno, Mandaue City Health Officer, also said that they are conducting an investigation on the health status of the residents near the DCECI facility.

“We will be conducting an investigation if some community folks, especially the scavengers, have come in contact with those garbages,” Seno said.

Mandaue Cenro has already issued a Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against DCECI on Monday. It means that they can no longer continue to transport, treat, store or dispose of biohazard wastes./elb