The Inayawan landfill was finally closed in mid-January by City Hall, but where’s the closure and rehabilitation plan?
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has again asked Cebu City to submit its closure and rehabilitation plan for the landfill which operated since 1998.
The Inayawan facility is still an open dumpsite rather than a proper landfill due to the absence of adequate soil cover as well as scientific waste management methods based on government standards, said DENR-7 information officer Eddie Llamedo.
“Cebu City should submit its closure and rehabilitation plan to the DENR through the Environmental Management Bureau and we will evaluate it,” he said.
Such a plan would detail features like site grading, slope stabilization, management of greenhouse gases like methane emitted by the waste, a drainage control system, leachate management, fencing and security, maintenance and soil cover.
“These should be submitted as part of requirements before placing the appropriate signage that this is an old dump site,” he said.
Llamedo said Cebu City has a provisional solid waste management plan approved in Jan. 10, 2013, but has to submit its closure and rehabilitation plan for Inayawan.
He said the DENR supports the city government’s relocation of the families in the dump site.
Aside from Cebu City, Talisay City also hasn’t given a closure and rehabilitation plan for its dumpsite.
He said only the towns of Liloan and San Fernando, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Tagbilaran City, in Cebu and other Visayas areas of Valencia, Sibulan, Dumaguete City and Tanjay City submitted their closure and rehabilitation plan.
But Llamedo said no sanctions will be imposed on Cebu City and Talisay City for this lapse.
“For now, we will just exercise due diligence of actually requiring them to fulfill,” he said.
He said the DENR has long been conducting information drives on proper waste management and rehabilitation of dumpsites in every local government unit (LGU).