DPS collects 480 tons of garbage in 12 hours; new collection hours set

Uncollected garbage in Gorordo Street in Cebu City on June 18, 2019. | CDN file

CEBU CITY, Philippines —The Cebu City Department of Public Services (DPS) collected 480 tons of garbage from 2 p.m. of  Monday, July 1, 2019 to 2 a.m. of Tuesday, July 2, 2019, following the marching order of Mayor Edgar Labella to clean up the streets.

Read more: Cleaning city’s streets, declogging city’s waterways top Labella’s to do list

The marching order of Labella was to make sure the city’s streets are clean from garbage after he noticed piles of rubbish blocking sidewalks on his way to the City Hall during his first day as mayor.

Engineer Joel Biton, the new head of the DPS, said the contracts of previous private haulers which were commissioned to collect the garbage in the city already ended on June 30, 2019.

The DPS borrowed garbage trucks from private companies, barangays, and the City Engineering Department to collect the garbage around the city.

New collection hours

Biton said that new collection hours will be implemented to ensure that in the mornings, no garbage will be seen accumulated on the side streets.

The new collection schedule will consist of two shifts from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight and 12 midnight to 8 a.m.

“This way, when people leave their homes, there will be no garbage seen in the streets,” said Biton.

Biton said that currently, 14 city-owned garbage trucks are making rounds in Cebu City. Another five trucks from the City Engineering are also being used to augment the force.

He said the bulk of the garbage came from the bigger barangays, especially Barangay Guadalupe and Barangay Lahug.

Biton hopes that the new collection schedule will work and a significant change will be seen in the streets in the next few days. 

Meanwhile, Cebu City has not yet decided on whether it will be throwing its garbage in the Binaliw landfill. 

ARN Central Waste Management Inc., the landfill’s developer, said it has yet to meet the city’s Department of General Services (DGS) regarding the matter. 

“I’ll be inviting the DGS/DPS team to hold an orientation briefing on the various processes within the facility so the waste deposition process can be efficient. As of now, Cebu City has not yet commenced their disposal with our facility,” said Sherwin Santos, executive director of ARN, in a text mesaage to the media. 

Santos said the delay in the disposal may be due to the transition of a new administration. 

“From my understanding, they required the services hence the bidding, but then I’ll try to find out because there might be changes or adjustments considering the change in administration,” he added. 

Santos is hoping that the Labella can see the merits of the Binaliw Landfill and choose to avail their “high-end waste management facility.” /bmjo