Inayawan landfill to shut down for good on Jan. 15

Cebu City Hall will enforce a full closure of the Inayawan landfill by January 15.

“We decided that by January 15, we are strictly closing down the landfill. There will be no more new wastes there. The only activity there will be the Mansei pilot study converting plastic to fluff fuel,” said lawyer Jade Ponce who heads the Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB).

He said the board is considering the possibility of the city dumping its garbage in a private landfill in the City of Naga.

Garbage from the city’s north district barangays will be dumped at the Consolacion town landfill.

Ponce said there is an unsolicited proposal from a Korean company to make use of the landfill’s garbage and develop the area at no cost to the city.

Conversion

“This company has closed over 100 dumpsites in Korea. They were able to develop former landfills into commercial areas with malls, hotels and other businesses,” Ponce said.

He didn’t elaborate on the proposal saying that it is still being reviewed by a joint venture technical working group.

The company will make use of combustible waste in the landfill and turn them to fluff fuel for cement companies.

It will also use the soil as filling materials. They plan to bring in equipment worth US$ 27 million.

If the project pushes through, Ponce said a profit sharing scheme will be in place between the firm and Cebu City on the landfill conversion.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama signed the order to end the dumping of wastes in the landfill in December 2011 but some barangays still continue to dump their wastes in the facility.

The 15-hectare facility, worth P209 million, was built and funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 1998.

It was supposed to last for only seven years but it continues to operate to this day.