Metro Cebu has new hospital waste hauling service provider
Personnel from Lapu-Lapu City’s Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) are seen collecting hospital wastes floating on the seas off Mactan Channel and washed to the shore in this photo taken on Jan. 11, 2019. / Photo courtesy of the Lapu-Lapu City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Amid the controversy involving hospital wastes found floating in the water off Mactan Island, a new hospital waste hauling service provider has stepped in and has promised it can safely dispose of the wastes produced by hospitals in Metro Cebu.
William Cuñado, regional director of Environmental Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7), said they have approved the operations of a hauling firm based in Lapu-lapu City, which will replace the now suspended Davao City Environmental Care Inc. (DCECI).
“Gahapon (January 15) lang gyud, na-complete na ang ilang requirements. The construction phase of the facility and compliance actually lasted for six years,” Cuñado said in a news forum on Wednesday, January 16.
The newly-accredited firm, Aquilini Mactan Renewable Energy Inc. (AMREI), has a daily processing capacity of 75 tons.
Cuñado said this is about five times the average volume of the waste that hospitals across the Metro Cebu generate daily.
EMB-7 has already recommended to their central office the suspension of the treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) registration of DCECI after wastes from two hospitals that the company was supposed to have disposed of were found floating the seas off Mactan Island since last week.
During the technical conference held between EMB-7, DCECI and the hospitals on January 7, Cuñado said they found that DCECI , which is based in Mandaue City, hauled more than its capacity of eight tons per day.
The Mandaue city government had ordered DCECI’s facility closed amid the controversy.
The TSD registration given to DCECI was proof that the firm has the capability to treat and safely dispose of hazardous garbage like that of hospital waste. Since the TSD is issued by the EMB Central Office, Cuñado said the most they can do is to recommend for its suspension but the decision will still come from the central office./elb
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